Intertwined Hearts -Challenge
by Naura Blackwood
Summary: 31 little stories about Luffy and his Nakama and family. Each theme contains a completely different setting. The story will be connected, but how? (This is to gain experience and get better in my writing skills, so reviews, advice and follows are much appreciated!)
1. Chapter 1

**31 Themes Writing Challenge:**

Hello all! I'm having trouble writing Brothers' Rebellion again, so a friend recommended to do a challenge first ,so I get more experience and ideas. Well, Here is what I am going to do: I am going to write about a Theme (See list below for all the themes). These little stories will be based on One Piece. I hope y'all will enjoy it along with me! I will update them randomly because of school and such! ^^

1\. Winter

2\. Water

3\. Walk Away

4\. The Soul

5\. The Muse

6\. The Body

7\. Summer

8\. Spring

9\. Snowflakes

10\. Silhouettes

11\. Sickly

12\. Sand Storm

13\. Lava

14\. Inspiration

15\. Historical

16\. Good Witch

17\. Fire

18\. Energy

19\. Elemental

20\. Earth

21\. Desert

22\. Demon

23\. Colors

24\. Cleanse &amp; Purge

25\. Chaos

26\. Blood

27\. Autumn

28\. Air

29\. A Sonnet

30\. A Relived Day

31\. A Meeting/ A Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, as you all know..**

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_1: Winter. _

It wasn't even winter, and yet snow was already falling and the days were getting colder and colder. I put on my shawl and thick, warm gloves and take my backpack along with me. I open the door and call out to Nojiko that I am leaving. Wind and snow is blowing in my face when I want to walk outside. I cross my arms as shivers are being send up my spine. I already have Goosebumps on my cheeks. I close the door and stroll through the snow to the bus stop. I wish I could be there already. Winter is nothing for me. I prefer the warm sun and sweet taste of tangerines when they finally fall from Bellemere's trees. We own a small farm and sell the fruit. They're very famous in the town and everyone loves them. Bellemere is my mother. We are not related by blood, but we treasure each other just as much as any other family would do. Nojiko is my older sister. We were taken in by Bellemere when we were still very young. I was only a baby. But right now there are no tangerines and there is definitely no warm weather coming up. Don't get me wrong, I like wearing sweaters and drinking hot chocolate, especially when my friends are around and we watch a comedy, which is kind of impossible with _my _kind of friends, since they are so energetic. It's just that winter is fun until Christmas is over. After that, the long wait for Spring starts. Especially when the snow starts melting and becomes hard after a few days. That's the terrible part I really dislike about this season.

When the bus arrives I step in and hold my card before the small panel that checks you in. If you're still studying and have to travel by bus or train to get to school, then you'll get a student card which allows you to travel for free. It has its advantages, for example: I can go shopping wherever I want in this country. I take a seat in the front and turn on my Ipod. My hands are already freezing from only being five minutes outside. I wrap my shawl tighter around my neck and mouth to feel my warm breath against my skin. It comforts me and I warm up slowly, but surely. After twenty minutes I click on a button that gives the signal that I want to get out at the next bus stop. I check out and face the snow once again. It's a ten minute walk and I can't wait until I can warm up once inside the house. I turn off my Ipod on the way and hide it in one of my boots.

I knock on the door, loudly, because the three brothers living here always like to shake up the entire neighborhood. They can't really help it, well, the two older brothers at least, the little brother however is just a plain simpleton with a loud voice.

One of the older brothers called Ace opens the door and starts smirking immediately. '' Hey Ice Queen. You're early, only Koala, Marco and Sanji are here to help out. Don't tell me our sweet Nami was actually worried? '' He holds his hand sarcastically before his mouth as if he is surprised.

I roll my eyes and push him out of the way so I can get in. He has a point. I don't particularly care about whatever they do with their lives. It's only Luffy that always manages to worry me. If Luffy didn't have his friends and brothers, then god knows what might have become of him. I always need to lead the way for him and make sure he doesn't forget his lunch for school, since the two responsible ones tend to oversleep themselves almost every day. I could go on for hours on how to take care of Luffy, but there are only three words that can actually explain it accurate: It is impossible. You never know what to expect of him, so I always look like the mean Ice Queen around him, but that's just because he stresses me out and needs a hard hand from at least one person to be able to control him even a little.

'' Why aren't you wearing a t-shirt at least in this cold weather?! '' I call out to the freckled man. I'm feeling cold all over again just looking at him.

'' Because it's warm here inside the house. You know I don't mind cold weather at all. '' He closes the door and runs his hand through his black hair.

I shake my head and walk into the living room. Luffy is sitting on the dark red carpet, playing on his Nintendo 3DS. He's playing the newest release of the Anime: One Piece. It's Luffy most favorite Anime and Manga from the famous author: Eiichiro Oda. The other two brothers love reading and watching it too, just like Nami and their other comrades.

Luffy is wearing a sweater in the same color as the carpet with dark blue jeans and plain flip-flops. Luffy is kind of casual in his clothing, stylish, but not outstanding. There is one thing that no one will ever be able to take away from him. Ever. That's his Strawhat. He calls it: Mugi. It means Straw or something in Japanese. He always wears it, no matter what season, day or mood. Strangely enough, it really fits him and his clothing style.

It makes him a little different from the rest.

Scratch that.

It makes him unique.

His godfather gave it to him twelve years ago. It's always been very precious to him and so he asked Luffy to take care of it until Shanks would come back from the war abroad. He's an important fellow in the army and hasn't come back ever since he gave Luffy the Strawhat. It's kind of sad, and yet everyone is shouldering hope. Especially Luffy. His cheerful, happy and positive personality always makes you happy. And that's why you don't want to see him angry either. Because when Luffy gets angry, you should most likely run as far away as possible. Only one person managed to damage the hat. He knows Shanks but kind of hates him, so when Luffy mentioned that the hat is actually Shanks' hat, he lost it and cut it. Why would a person walk around with a knife? Yeah. Ask the clown for that. We never got to know the reason either. He's probably just mad or something. Luffy punched him right in the face and Zoro and I managed to pull him back before the police would find out. Luffy was really sad afterwards about the hat, so I sewed it for him. Seeing that little smile playing across his lips with a tear in his eyes was a little touching…but don't tell him! He'll laugh at me for the rest of my life if I ever admit that.

Oh, and Zoro is one of our comrades. He's a little strange and hard to deal with, but you can't have a friend more loyal than him. Alcohol is apparently his love life and he doesn't have a sense of direction AT ALL. Not to mention that he has green hair.. like.. how is that even possible? But ah well, thanks to his hair he received the nickname Mosshead from another comrade called Sanji.

Luffy looks up when I walk towards him and I greet him by holding up my hand.

'' Nami! Did you bring the food? '' He pauses the game and takes my rucksack. He takes out all the food and I have to bump him on his head to remind him that it's my backpack. I put back my purse and my small makeup bag and take out the snacks and beer instead.

Luffy wants to start on it already but he receives another bump on his head from Ace. '' And what do we say when someone gives us food Luffy? '' He leans over Luffy and meets up with his eyes.

Luffy looks troubled for a moment but bows his head towards me and thanks me for the food.

'' Easy as that right? '' Ace smirks and takes the snacks and beer to the kitchen where the other older brother and his girlfriend called Koala are preparing the feast.

'' So, when are the others coming? '' I sit on the sofa and cross my legs on it. My feet aren't cold anymore and the warm house with the familiar scent makes me feel comfortable.

Luffy answers while staring through the door opening at the kitchen. '' They should be here soon. Looks like Sabo is almost finished after all! If they don't hurry up, then I'll eat everything. '' A little drool rolls out of the corner of his mouth.

I sigh. '' Can't you think of something else just for once? ''

Luffy smiles and shakes his head.

We play some time on the Nintendo when the door bell rings and Ace opens the door for the rest of the comrades we were waiting for.

While it's cold outside, we make it warm inside by gathering on a Friday night. Everyone brings something to eat or drink and we talk, watch and drink to our hearts' content until the early morning.

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Well, this is the first theme! I don't know when the next one will be up, so follow/review and I hope you enjoyed it!

The clown is Buggy btw, for those who didn't notice. :3


	2. Chapter 2

**Oohh I got followers, thank you! I loved writing the first Theme, so here's the second one. Enjoy!  
One more thing: This is based on the Dutch student life. Sabo and Koala rent a room inside a house. They are allowed by the House Boss to use the bathroom, kitchen and hall etc.**

* * *

_2: Water_

It's still too early in the morning to get up. The sun hasn't risen just yet, so I try to close my eyes and get some more sleep before I have to prepare for classes. I own a 'room' together with my girlfriend Koala. As soon as we were accepted at the university, we decided to move together and rent a room. Most students do that here, and you don't have to travel much every day. I stay here during the weekdays and then after the last class on Friday I go back to the village to my brothers. Renting a room has both its advantages and disadvantages. You don't have to abide by the rules set by your caretakers, not that we ever listened to anyone, but ah well, it's still different. Except if you include Koala's rules. She hates dirt and cleans the room almost every day. There is not even a little bit of dust to be found. She makes me clean a lot too. That's one of the disadvantages I was talking about. You have to do everything yourself. When I still lived with my brothers, our step-mum Dadan always used to take care of everything. We never really listened to her and at some point she gave up trying and let us do whatever we want.

Another disadvantage is that you have to prepare the food yourself. I'm the one who takes care of the groceries, you have no idea how many times I came back with the wrong stuff, I mean c'mon.. Food is life. I can't resist all those snacks waiting for me to be eaten.. It's not like we're poor anyway. We both have a weekend job and the money students receive from the government to be able to pay for school. Not to mention that she expects me to remember every single thing I have to buy!

One little advantage is that I don't have my little brother bouncing on my bed every morning screaming I have to wake up and prepare breakfast for him. Yes. I am talking about Sweet little Luffy. His puppy eyes and messy hair is sometimes his biggest weapon. Many people can't say 'no' to him because of his innocence. He's innocent, really, but just a plain idiot. He even made a teacher once pulling out her hair and quitting her job because he simply couldn't understand what she was trying to tell him. He couldn't help it.. and yet he received detention from the principal during High school. The poor guy just didn't get what he did wrong and said it wasn't his fault that the teacher went mad. He is kinda right, but you get my point now right?

As I said, I go back during the weekend to stay with them and Koala goes to her adoptive father Jinbei. And man, he can be scary. When Koala wanted to introduce me the first time, I didn't know what to expect. I walked in and he was, like, sitting there, cross legged in some sort of Japanese dress for men and with his eyes closed, like he was meditating or something. Turned out he was asleep in the end, but it still made some strange impression about him! After going through that 'What do you want from my daughter' interview he started to treat me as his own son. He even visits Luffy and Ace sometimes. Luffy really likes and respects him a lot.

We are planning to go swimming this weekend, just the three of us. Luffy has been waiting for this moment for weeks and Ace is excited too. We're planning to go in the early morning to the beach and start with morning exercises. After that, we eat some breakfast at a nearby café and spend the day on the beach. Luffy thinks he can hold out the longest in a swimming marathon, so we made a bet. The loser has to pay dinner.

I rub my eyes, annoyed I can't seem to fall asleep any longer and gently take off my arms that are wrapped around Koala's waist. Quietly, I get up and sneak into the bathroom. I take a long, cold shower and put on a blue shirt with black jeans. When I finish I go downstairs and prepare breakfast for two. I bake some eggs with bacon and warm the bread in the oven for about five minutes. After that I hear the alarm upstairs, so that means Koala will be up by now. I take two glasses and juice and put them on the dinner table.

While I wait for Koala to finish preparing, I check my phone. I've got one message from Luffy who has sent an image of the breakfast he and Ace made themselves. Their bacon is half burnt and I notice a plaster around Luffy's thumb. I sigh and put my phone back in my pocket, smiling. Tomorrow is the first day in two months we are going to spend the day on the beach. It's the end of Spring and warm enough to swim now. I can't wait for this last horrible day of school to finish so I can meet up with the guys.

I hear the soft thuds from the stairs and look up at Koala, who enters the kitchen. She rests her arms on my shoulders and touches my nose with her nose. '' Good morning honey. ''

I move my face a little and place my lips on hers' and kiss her. She answers it and slowly pulls back after giving me one last peck on my forehead. She takes a seat next to me and starts eating immediately.

'' You're welcome. '' I lean on one arm and look at my girl with a raised eyebrow.

'' Sorry! I'm normally never hungry in the morning, but because I had so much homework yesterday, I had to stay up until 2 AM in the morning! My brain needs energy. '' She has red cheeks and continues eating.

I chuckle and finally start on my baked bacon too.

* * *

Saturday morning:

After I had to wake up Ace five times in a row and managed to keep Luffy away from the fridge, we were finally ready to leave. It was an hour long drive and now we're finally here doing the morning exercises. Well, the problem is, as soon as I stopped the car, Luffy opened the door and ran off into the water with all his clothes on. It's still too cold yet, because it's not even six am.. So the lil' guy has to sit with a bath towel wrapped around him, waiting for us to finish.

I love the way the air smells like salt and how your lips become salty too. When I look at the endless waves, it somehow calms me down. I become more relaxed. The sun is covered behind the clouds, so the sand isn't warm yet. It's even still a bit damp from the night.

Ace and I run next to the water for about half an hour and then start on some stretch exercises. After that, when Luffy is finally dry and warmed up a little again, we ask him to come with us. He needs to move now after all, if he doesn't want to catch a cold. We take turns and battle each other. I take notes on who wins and who loses. When each person finishes fifty wrestling matches, I count everything and decide who the winner and loser is. The outcome was kind of expected, since Ace and I are older and have more grown-up bodies than Luffy, thus we have a higher chance to take him down.. Luffy lost the most battles, so he has to pay for breakfast. He searches through all his pockets and even behind the red lint on his Strawhat to find some money. I secretly put a ten dollar bill inside his front pocket without him noticing. He looks a bit sad after all. He really wants that breakfast from that Café we're about to go too.. After Ace suggests to look again in his pockets from his jeans, his face clears up and he happily shows how proud he is to have some money on him after all.

Once inside the café, we decide to buy the food and drinks and take them with us back to the beach. Since Luffy really can't hold back any longer, he attacks the food as soon as the waiter gives it to us. So you can guess we finished the food when we weren't even halfway on the way back.

The sun is getting warmer and the water too. The waves are calm so we decide to swim a marathon. We will swim until we reach a small island in the far distance. There aren't any high waves on this beach, so it's pretty safe to swim in the deep parts here. Though, it wouldn't matter any way since Luffy and Ace don't care about 'dangerous situations', in fact, it only makes them feel even more excited. I must admit that I would like to try to swim in water with bigger waves, it sounds like a challenge, and yeah, I love challenges. We take off our clothes and I put on my blue goggles. Luffy carefully stuffs away his Strawhat in his backpack and runs in his red shorts to the water. Ace runs after him yelling he's going to win this marathon while I chuckle and slowly walk towards the blue wet substance waiting for me to pull me in. When I reach the white foam I can feel the sand under my feet slowly moving as the water is pulling back into the sea. I look at the beautiful view of the sun making it sparkle and how badly I want to jump in. I give in to the wave that is trying to pull me in and walk forward while at the same time, it feels as if the world itself is moving and I am not reaching the deep water at all. Before I know it, the salty water tickles as it covers my body. I make a small dive when the water reaches my belly button. I swim fast to reach my two brothers. We give each other one glance with a big smile on our faces when we set off, battling who will reach the island first and who'll have to pay the delicious dinner at the restaurant called: The Baratie.

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**You know it! Follow, leave a review so I know what everyone thinks of it!  
I'm trying to keep it limited to one universe, and somehow combine every chapter in the end, as in: One story. **

**Until next time! The third theme is called: **_**3\. Walk Away**_


	3. Chapter 3

_3\. Walk Away_

I was walking to my room, still feeling heavy because of dinner, when my personal guard Pell approached me. He was wearing his Persian styled white clothes. He walked graciously towards me, stopping at an acceptable distance. He smiled at me while placing his hands folded on his back.

'' Princess Vivi, how was dinner? Did the nobles enjoy it? '' Knowing what I was going to answer, he waited nevertheless.

'' Ugh, you know how they are. Never satisfied! Miss Terracotta went all out to make the best dishes possible in this country and yet they were still complaining on how the potatoes didn't match the carrots' color. Have they never learned how to at least act polite? I need a bath and want to go to bed. My head hurts and the dress is tight. '' I know I complained a lot. But that was because I was talking to Pell. He's like an older brother to me. He took care of me ever since I was little and never left my side. I could tell him anything and everything about my little life up until now. Well, little.. isn't the right word. My life has been kind of hectic and a lot happened. Dealing with the paparazzi, staying the polite, sweet and well mannered princess all the freaking time isn't something I chose to do. I accepted to be the inheritor and crowned princess when I was only eight years old. I was still in love with fairy tales and those way too perfect Disney princesses. How was I supposed to know that this was one of the hardest jobs out there in the world? It may sound selfish, but it is hard. Dad didn't really push me or anything. He was actually really laidback. He always let me discover the details about this 'princess being' myself. I don't think that really worked out though.. Instead of acting like a lady I went out to '' The secret base '' to fight with Kohza. I always returned to the palace with sand in my shoes, dirt all over my face and my hair looked like Hagrid's in the books called: Harry Potter. It gave my caretaker Igaram almost a heart attack every time.

Kohza was the leader of our gang. Don't think of it as anything bad, really, we're just a group of friends fooling around in the clock tower, calling it our 'secret base'. I wanted to be the leader at first. But I kept on losing against Kohza and accepted defeat. I called him: Leader ever since then, but after we went on one of our usual dates and called him Leader, people looked at us terrified, because Kohza was hugging me at the moment and thought I was being forced into something. I tried to get used to call him Kohza. Oh, and yes.. he is my fiancé. Although, he is not too happy about it, because if we marry, it means he'll be the next King of the country. He just wants to stay in the city Yuba with his father. I can understand that, having to go through all this myself. He always helped me out and was a big support for me anyway. He agreed in becoming the king, only if I would handle the paperwork. The irony. But yeah, I guess that's the least I could have done for him, right? I mean.. this meant he was going to give up many things just for me and the throne. We announced our marriage a few weeks ago and the paparazzi was following us everywhere. They wanted to know everything about Kohza and wouldn't leave him alone. I guess that was the toughest part of being a royal. You had to keep up a certain reputation, whether you wanted it or not. One wrong word and everyone would be angry with you. If you wear the same dress twice, it would be called a scandal.

I utterly disliked it.

But did I have a choice?

I love my people, I love the country, the culture and the sun.

But this was tiring…

…and now I was dragging Kohza into this too.

He acted like he doesn't mind it and he learned the etiquette and responsibilities really fast. He took it very seriously. I asked him once whether I could do something for him in return.. so he requested me to get out into the villages and get to know the citizens.

And so I did. I first visited Yuba like I did a lot in my childhood. I met Kohza's father after all those years and it was.. painful in a way. He used to be really chubby and had a very loud voice, barking over the silliest of jokes. He always smiled, no matter what. But seeing him after all those years.. I didn't expect him to change so much. He lost so much weight..and his eyes looked tired. He was still smiling though.. but it didn't reach his eyes.. Kohza told me the city Yuba was dying.. The once so rich and resourceful town turned into a desert. It hasn't rained in Yuba for three years. Seeing the once so powerful Yuba like this.. woke something inside me. I ordered several scouts to visit other towns throughout the country Alabasta and give me full reports about the situations there.

The results were surprising. I wanted to see all the cities that were suffering myself and prepared a voyage with Kohza. I decided that on a whim and Igaram tried to stop me. Even dad wasn't too happy about it. Though, he knew it was necessary for the citizens. Maybe it was a way for me to escape the palace. I was tired to having to attend meetings with important people and looking like a perfect doll all the time.

I wanted to walk away.

Away from this suffocating place and my duties.

And Kohza agreed with me. He said if I really wanted to become a good queen who enjoys her job, then I should get to know my people and get close to them. That way, I would appreciate my role much more.

I wanted to take a lot of stuff with me because we weren't sure when we would be back. Kohza, however, wanted me to only take a rucksack with the necessary stuff in it. Suddenly, I realized how much I actually needed… My toothbrush, seriously, I can't leave without that thing, my make-up.. clothes.. because yeah, how to change clothes? I mean.. I'm not going to wear the same underwear for longer than a day, money, pajamas, passport, earrings and gosh, I could go on forever. I looked pleadingly over at Kohza and when he sighed, I knew I should just take a few things with me.

* * *

We visited the first town called Goa. Kohza took me to a small village Fuusha to show me around and have dinner in a regular bar called Partys Bar. I was surprised when I walked in. Every customer was behaving like there was a party going on and the beer was everywhere. It was warm and the smell of alcohol was kind of suffocating after a while. We took place behind the bar itself and a dark green haired woman with a warm smile approached us. She welcomed me and started a conversation with Kohza. Apparently, Kohza visited this bar more often and wanted to show me around in the country. He laid a finger on his lips and asked her to stay quiet about this because no one noticed who I was yet. I was wearing a shawl around half me hair and normal clothes everyone would wear instead of a dress. I must say, it was really comfortable..

I wanted to order a water but Kohza held up his hand and ordered two beer instead. I looked at the yellowish substance with the strange smell and was almost afraid to take a sip. I brought it to my lips and took a little sip with my eyes shut as if I expected something terrible to happen next. The sweet woman behind the bar asked if I ever drank alcohol before and when I shook my head, she looked apologetically at me and passed me an apple cider called: Jillz. She said I would love it and that it was popular among young girls.

Meanwhile some of what seemed Kohza's friends hit him on his back and took a seat next to him. One of them also had green hair like a moss head and golden earrings. Another one had three plates in his arms, don't ask me how that was even possible, and stuffed his mouth with meat while saying: '' It's been a while Serious-san! ''

I chuckled when hearing the nickname because it was true. Kohza was always serious and it was kind of special when he smiled. He introduced me to the two friends. The moss head was called Zoro and the black haired boy was called Luffy. The boy took a seat next to me and looked at me confused.

'' I don't know you, do I? '' He said and I was shocked for a moment, not knowing what to answer. But Kohza saved me on that and just blurted out that I was his fiancé he told them about earlier.

'' Oooohh! You're the one who always managed to give Kohza a hard time during matches! Want to spar with me sometime? I always have battles with my two brothers but never win! You never won either right? But Kohza says you're strong anyway! What about it? ''

'' Y-You don't mind? '' I still wasn't sure yet whether they knew I was the princess, but if not.. then I would like it to stay this way, because I didn't want Luffy to start treating me different right away.

'' Why would I mind? '' The black haired boy looked a little hurt at me.

'' Luffy doesn't discriminate you know. He doesn't care whether you're a girl, granny or even the queen. '' The Moss Head had a bottle of Vodka in his hand and took a long draught from it as if it was water.

My stomach made a jump at the word Queen and I just took another sip from my cider instead of answering. I could see Kohza enjoying this, especially because I didn't know how to interact with the hyperactive boy yet. Hell, I wasn't used to this at all! I was still trying to figure out why Kohza chose this place to visit first instead of the slums in Goa like we planned originally. I intended to help the people out in this country and give aid to them wherever possible. Sitting in a bar with a pokerfaced like puppet-boy and a Moss Head who drank heavy alcohol drinks like it was nothing wasn't part of my plan at all.. But it was Kohza's and he enjoyed it.

Soon enough, more friends of Luffy and Moss Head joined the bar and acted like I was just another normal girl. I think it was because of the alcohol..but I enjoyed it too. I started to talk to an orange haired woman called Nami who apparently loved money and tangerines. I was surprised to hear that she was Luffy's girlfriend even though they didn't act like a couple at all. To be honest, at some point I started to see why they would be the last humans on earth to start acting like a couple. Still, it made them look perfect for each other. Weird huh?

At some point in the evening I even started to drink the beer and Luffy and a man called Usopp with a really long nose started to sing Binks' Sake along with an old man who has an afro head.

Of course, someone had to ruin the what seemed to be the perfect evening. A drunk crossdresser called Bon Clay blocked my way when I wanted to go to the bathroom.

'' Oh sweetheart! I know who you are! It's a pleasure to meet you! But one question..'' He raised his finger but had to hold a pillar with his other arm before he could fall. '' Ah, excuse me.. Well, where was I? ''

'' Uhm.. I really need to go to the bathroom. Please excuse me, I really need to go. '' I tried staying nice and walk sideward to pass him, but he just continued like I didn't talk at all.

'' Why is the princess of Alabasta in a small bar like this? It's a famous bar, sure, but a princess in a regular bar? I'd expect someone like you to eat and drink in a high class restaurant! '' He didn't do it on purpose.. I hoped.. He was drunk.. Wait.. Is that even an excuse?

As expected everyone in the bar turned around because Bon-san kind of screamed it instead of saying it and so everyone near heard him. I didn't have my shawl on anymore, even though I would love to bury myself in it and never take it off ever again, but it was too late. People recognized me and stared at me with their mouths half open. I noticed Kohza wanted to get up to come to me, but Luffy was first. '' So that's why I thought I knew you! But why is everyone so shocked? Is being a princess that weird? ''

Moss Head smirked at me and winked. '' I told you he doesn't discriminate. ''

Nami took my hand and wanted to walk me to the bathroom. I didn't notice my body was all tense until she tried to move me. When I calmed down and washed my face, Nami told me I couldn't go out just yet. The boys were trying to get out the people who tried to take pictures of me. Those were only a few though. When we finally walked out after what seemed an hour Kohza was waiting next to the door. He asked if I was alright and I answered that I was. I mean, physically I was.. but mentally? I was tired. I really enjoyed the evening, but my reputation would always follow me and take the overhand. That evening I realized how much I wanted to be a normal girl like Nami and a careless happy idiot like Luffy. I wanted to be a normal couple with Kohza, without camera's following us everywhere. But I guess that was just impossible right?

Sanji, a smoking cook with curly brows, asked everyone to go to his father's restaurant The Baratie. It was closed right now, so we would be the only ones there. Everyone agreed and Kohza whispered in my ear he would explain everything once we were there. Somehow, I didn't want to let go of him anymore that evening. I wasn't scared, just…tired. He made me feel safe and comfortable, so I wrapped my arms around his arm and didn't let go any longer. We used two cars to get there. One was Franky's small van and the other BMW was Robin-san's car. Kohza and I sat next to each other and I put my head on his shoulder. He caressed my hair while looking out of the window. I really appreciated the way everyone was still treating me like a normal girl after that little incident. It just made realize how many different people there are, even in one small bar.

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant, even though it was already in the middle of the night and the poor Sanji had to receive several kicks from his father's wooden leg. I started to relax again and Luffy even called me one of his Nakama.. Something that means Comrade in Japanese. Robin-san explained that the word Nakama means a lot more than just a comrade to Luffy. It means he sees you as his own family. At first, I didn't know how to react to that, so I buried my face in Kohza's shirt to hide my tears that were welling up in my eyes. After several pokes and shout outs I finally showed up from my little world in Kohza's arms and happily said I really appreciated it and asked if it would really be okay to be their Nakama. Luffy bumped me on the head.. with an annoyed look.. and didn't even bother to answer that question since it seemed that obvious to him. He received two bumps from both Sanji and Nami in return though. Chopper, a fifteen year old boy with brown spiky, messy hair hugged me and said that I would be part of their crew forever.

It was my most favorite night and I would never forget it. Ever. Kohza explained what his intentions were that evening and it seemed that it was a success. Instead of directly going to the poor side of the country, I would get to see the 'rich' side that is actually poor in terms of money. Fuusha isn't rich when you talk about money and sources, but they're rich when you talk about their souls' warmth and the nice atmosphere that welcomes you every time you visit it.

With that vision in mind, I visited the other villages and learned a lot.

After two weeks, Kohza and I came back to the palace and I told my dad everything that happened. And now, here I was.. still complaining to Pell about the nosy nobles, but looking forward to when Luffy and the other Nakama would visit the palace for my birthday. Igaram is going to need a doctor for this one. His heart won't survive them for sure!

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**Next chapter is called: **_**4\. The Soul.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_4\. The Soul_

_I was watching them.._

_Yet they didn't know.._

_I knew what they were doing.._

_Yet they didn't tell me.._

_I called out to them.._

_Yet they couldn't hear me.._

_I was with them.._

_Yet they thought I was gone.. _

I could hear Luffy excitedly talking to Makino about his new friend called Vivi. He was planning to spar with her when he and his other friends would visit Vivi at her home for her birthday.

I was watching from a distance..

Only a few meters away..

Yet their voices always sounded muffled and far away..

..And I couldn't ever reach them.

How many years has it been? Oh yeah.. It's been more than twelve years since they saw me for the last time. I'm standing here, right here, next to them, listening to them, laughing with them, remembering the time when Luffy was still a little brat and Makino.. My sweet Makino… Words couldn't describe how much I missed them. They couldn't see me.. I was invisible to them.

It happened five years, three months and seven days ago. I would never forget that moment. I don't know how to describe the reason I remember that very day. I count it all the time until it makes me want to go mad. I always used to think: _Why would I want to change my past? I'm glad how it turned out._ How wrong I was. I remember every single small detail, every drop of blood, the half broken doll staring at me with black holed eyes, the gunshots.. especially that one gunshot..

The day that ended my life. My future. My hopes. That one shot that took everyone and everything away from me.

And here I was.

Watching what once was my family having one of their normal days in Fuusha Village.

I've been here ever since that day. Not being able to find my peace. Or whatever it was. I didn't get any of this myself. I was just me, still the old me. In my uniform though. With badges and all, even though one of them was missing. My helmet was gone, revealing my sticky red hair. My clothes were engulfed in blood.

Of course I wouldn't want them to see me like this. But I wanted to speak to them so badly. I didn't want them to suffer, but they had to know.

They were still waiting for me to come back. So I could bark out loudly and make jokes about Luffy. I wanted to kiss Makino on her forehead and tell her how much I missed her, drink as much as I wanted and just have fun with everyone.. But that wasn't possible.. It was painful to see them like this. Waiting.. having hope.. While there isn't supposed to be any hope.. and the dead man standing in front of them.. as a mere phantom, a shade, shadow, ghost, however you want to call it.

I couldn't touch them, yet the space around me felt cold. Cold like dead bodies always felt. Cold as ice. People walked through me, but I couldn't feel their warmth. I was a non-existing shadow to the entire world.

I was a mere soul.

Is this what happened to everyone who died or is going to die? Why did I have to go through this pain and misery? Did I do something wrong in my life? Or is it because I didn't want to die at all yet? For years I've been searching for my answer but I never found it.

I knew one thing for sure. I wanted them to know, because it seemed so unfair to them to live without that one answer they needed. Normally families always get messages, phone calls and such from their family members in the army abroad. But somehow the report about me never received Makino. She watched the news every day, reads the newspaper and checks her phone nearly fifteen times a day.

Then there's Luffy. He's always wearing the Straw hat. The hat I got from my late father Roger.

Did he ever go through this? Did he have to watch us? What did he do to find his peace?

Whatever it was, it wouldn't help me, since I couldn't talk to him and would never find out. I had to let Makino know somehow, but I didn't want to scare anyone either.

I saw Luffy leaving the bar. I hesitated for a moment, not sure whether to follow him or not. It was already past midnight and he's had some beers. Not to mention that he was all alone. Didn't Ace teach him not to go outside on your own in the middle of the night when you've had some alcohol? Or at least Sabo?

Knowing I wouldn't be of any help myself, I followed him nevertheless. After Makino made sure Luffy would somehow find his way home, since he's not Zoro.. that guy is an expert in getting lost, and a hug, Luffy finally left the bar and strolled his way back to his house.

Luffy lived about five minutes away from Makino's bar. It was amazing how the boy still managed to get distracted by many things along his way in only five minutes. After having found three different sorts of beetles, played with a house cat, stopped by the twenty-four hour open mini supermarket and bought snacks, he finally knocked on the door, hoping someone would open it at this late hour. Luffy didn't have his own key since he always made sure it got lost somehow.

The door was thrown open by what seemed a huge woman. She had long red curls and a cigarette in her mouth. That woman was Luffy's adoptive mom. Dadan never chose for it to become the three brothers' parent, since Garp kind of forced her. You see.. She isn't quite the sweet hearted woman like Makino was. You could rather say she was the opposite. She wasn't really beautiful, always looked angry, had a criminal past and shouted at the boys constantly. But even after all that, Luffy still always smiled broadly at her and when she was alone, she would smile and have a small tear in the corner of her eye.

Guess the heart makes a person truly beautiful right?

I didn't bother following Luffy into the house, instead, I walked to the nearby graveyard. Once there, I sat before my own grave.

Sitting before your own grave isn't a fun experience, you know? It's more like.. strange.. I don't know how else to explain it. It's like you're watching someone else's grave even though you know it's yours.

I was trying to think of a way to approach Luffy and Makino without noticing the night was long gone and the sun had taken its place above ground, when a young girl stopped next to me and put some flowers on my grave. She had the same hair color as me. She had gray eyes, again, just like me. She was still young. Only about seventeen years old.

I knew this girl.

I knew perfectly well who she was.

I was just trying to deny it I guess..

I couldn't believe she was here.

How did she find this place? How did she know about me?

Where is her mom?

Why didn't I ever know about her?

I knew, but I had to prepare and move for the war abroad.

I found out about this girl at the very last moment.

Ironic, isn't it?

The guilt and pain I felt at that moment was almost unbearable.

This was my daughter.

I never got to meet her, never had the chance to apologize to her, I could never spend time with her. Why didn't I go search for her when I found out about her existence? What was I trying to hide from?

And why doesn't it seem like she's angry with me? She's supposed to despise me, to have a good life with her mom. Was it really that impossible? Just what happened to this girl?

And why does she have such a sad look in her eyes?

_To be continued_

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**This girl is my OC for those who wonder. And yes, I will write more about her and Shanks. **

**Oh, I'm so terrible, I know.. I don't regret writing this though *Evil smirk*, I actually enjoyed it, because it felt new and like a challenge to me. And that's what this story is about right?**

_**Next theme: 5. The Muse.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Waahhh did she finally publish a chapter?! _**

**_Yes yes! Sorry for taking so long! A lot is going on in my life haha and my writing skills keep on refusing to improve it seems :c Ah well, I hope you will enjoy this one! _**

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_4\. The Muse_

It was almost sunset when I finished polishing the silverware. I carefully put them in a drawer and started preparing dinner afterwards. The color of the now orange sun gave a strange, but nostalgic glow in the bar. My boss-lady Makino has given the bar a spring themed lay-out which made the glow look even more beautiful. The sun that was slowly going down reminded me of my girlfriend.

Well, almost girlfriend.

Fine. She didn't notice me at all, but she will be mine one day.

She had beautiful long, wavy orange hair. Her eyes were light brown colored and she had an hourglass figure. She had an outstanding and cheerful smile and always knew how to make people obey her.

To be honest, she hit them. She had so much strength! Which was another beautiful part of her by the way! You've got to see her one day! She had that glare of death in her eyes whenever Mosshead or Luffy angered her. Then she hits them on their head with her fist and they had no other choice but to apologize.

Served them right.

She basically did this with everyone, including me. Not that I minded that though! I loved to take any of her beautiful hits! It was totally worth it!

Then there was her passionate side. Nami loved money, oranges and desserts. When it came to swindling or bartering, just leave it to her! She'd get all the money you needed. Except that 90% had to be given to her, of course.

Nami also had a weak spot for children. It was admirable to see her carrying such a warm heart towards them. Ah, how much I wish she would show that warm and loving side to me.

Just imagine if I could lie my head in her lap and she would caress my hair and smile and blush and ah.. I would look back at her and show her my smile in return and close my eyes while taking her other hand..

While daydreaming about all this, which I did all day long, I cut the vegetables in pieces for the stew.

Once I finished the preparations for dinner and the stew was on the fire pit I walked to the window and looked outside. The street was empty just like the bar. The usual customers mostly came after the sun has gone down. At the other side of the road was a small park. Around dinnertime, all children left and went home to eat. So the park was left empty.

Two gorgeous young ladies came back from the small graveyard that lied behind the park. The evening nearing, it gave the park a lonely look. It always gave me an eerie feeling, like the villagers here lived in the past.

This was a strange village where strange things happened.

Oh, not the typical stuff like in horror movies of course! More like, rumors and legends old ladies would always tell the children that played outside. Sometimes it was almost like they kept on living in the twentieth century instead of the current one. I didn't know how else to explain it. It was just strange. Nothing was plain here. Or maybe it was because it was so normal that it gave such an eerie feeling?

Some graves weren't exactly normal graves. Some were a memento, without a body in it. Luffy's caretaker Shanks for example.. it wasn't even sure whether he has passed on yet. Makino refused to believe it and kept on hoping otherwise. She always put on a brave and cheerful face for Luffy's sake. He encouraged her and all the others, so she tried to keep his spirits up in return.

She had a strong mind, didn't she?

Other family members of several villagers did lie there. Nami's adoptive mother for example. She used to be an officer in the army. She died while protecting Nami and Miss Nojiko from a criminal when they were still very young.

It took Nami a long time to get over that, part of her still hasn't gotten over it and never will, I thought. She visited the grave every week and would pour Japanese rice wine over the grave.

I didn't notice I was daydreaming and thus, indirectly staring at the ladies on the bench. They pointed at me and wanted to walk away, but I waved at them. They stopped for a moment, giggled at each other and then walked away very quickly. I considered going after them and inviting them to the bar, but when I turned around to walk to the door a younger girl was standing in front of the pay desk. I didn't recognize her from the village, so I asked in my most polite way who she was.  
She didn't answer my question and instead ordered a chocolate bar, one bread and a bottle of coke. I gave her the groceries in a plastic bag and gave it another try. This time I asked whether she lived nearby. She only looked slightly annoyed at me and pouted. She then put the money on the bar counter and gestured with her hand. I gave her the bag, because I thought that was what she meant and then she was gone. Just like that.

As I said earlier, stranger things happened, so I didn't fret over it. But that wasn't what bugged me. That girl had wavy red hair with grey eyes. There weren't many girls with that kind of look. It made her a little unique. I couldn't place my finger on what it was that bugged me about her, so I stopped thinking about it after a while. I wasn't getting anywhere with it after all.

I did hope she would visit more often. I noticed I was getting curious to who she actually was. Not that I wanted to get to know her, in you know, that way, because I still love Nami a lot!

She will always be my Muse!

Every year my resolution has grown stronger to try and make Nami notice me this way. Being friend-zoned, or as Mosshead likes to call it: Cook-zoned isn't always fun you know..

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**Next Theme: 6. The Body**


	6. Chapter 6

**I really enjoyed writing from Rocinante's point of view! Enjoy! I hope it isn't too sad..**

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**6\. The Body**

After having set a trashcan, an old lady's bag and my t-shirt on fire, I was finally back home. I had to pay for the costs though.. and give the police an explanation.. But that didn't matter right now!

The most important thing was that I could see my son again after such a long time! He turned 26 last week and I couldn't be there. The admiral wouldn't let me go earlier. It was a hectic war after all.

I took off my shawl and coat with black feathers and threw it on the stairs, because..reasons.. and walked into the living room. There, my precious son was watching the television while eating rice with curry.

When he saw me, he turned the sound off and stood up. A grain of rice was stuck on his cheek which was strange for a neat man like Law. He stared at me with his eyes wide open.

I smiled broadly while a tear escaped my left eye and I held my arms open so he could run into my arms for a hug.

But of course, Law was too stubborn and 'prideful' to do something like that.

They grew up fast, didn't they?

' Law! It has been way too long! Five years at least! How are you? Have you been feeding yourself well enough? You have those dark circles under your eyes again! Don't think you can escape your old man's sharp intuition! I know you love fast-food way too much! Oh! I've got a birthday present for you! Wait, Let me get my bag in the car! '

But before I could turn around Law answered. 'Cora, you didn't leave any messages the past year. Everyone was worried sick.' This was his way of saying: You fool, why didn't you say anything?! I was worried sick, I would've prepared a feast and invited everyone to surprise you!

I scratched my head and took off my red hat. ' I'm so sorry Law, I really wanted to message you, but circumstances wouldn't allow me too. You know I would've messaged you three times each day if I could! But a lot happened you see. How about we have a drink and I'll tell you everything?'

He took a napkin from the table which was overloaded with all kinds of books, instruments Law used to practice for his studies, articles and bottles of beer. He wiped his mouth with the napkin and sat down.

Law wasn't quite the talker. Due to his past, he's become really quiet and more thoughtful. Only a few people like me and his little friend Luffy knew what he was really like. It took me a long time to break through that tough invisible wall of his.

I strolled to the kitchen while thinking of how to explain what happened the past 5 years. I still couldn't stomach what happened back then myself.

I took a bottle of wine from the door shelf inside the fridge and two glasses from the freshly washed dishes on the kitchen counter.

Once back I sat on the sofa and poured the wine into the glasses. Law held up his glass and said: 'To you being alive, at least.'

'Cheers!' Can't he be a bit more positive? It must have been really hard on him not knowing what was going on abroad.

' Didn't the news show you anything about the war?' I drank my glass empty and poured another.

'Sometimes, but that wasn't really helpful. They were trying to cover up a lot. Just what happened out there?' He took a sip and looked at me with a serious glare.

'I can't hold you up any longer, can I?'

'Of course not. It wasn't only you by the way, nothing is known about Shanks-ya's whereabouts either. Haven't you heard anything about him yet?'

I stayed quiet for a while because I didn't know what to answer to that.

Actually, I do know what happened to General, that's why I wanted to talk to Law first about this. Luffy wasn't going to take this news in easily. I could use some support from my adoptive son in this. That's what I thought up till now, but right at this moment I was facing a wall myself. How was I going to explain everything?

I could start from the beginning, that was the best solution, but the worst at the same time. The story started with the General. He was the lead for the things that happened afterwards.

'Well, I..' I sighed and made up my mind. 'Let me get this straight out: He..' I gulped. Why couldn't I finish the sentence?

It was enough for Law though. He understood immediately and seemed to be in deep thoughts. I waited until he would answer, which he did.

Almost as a whisper, he asked: 'How?'

I put my glass on a book on the table, which was another unusual thing for Law, he always had everything cleaned up the way I remember the past, and started talking. 'It was an infiltration mission. The General, Smoker, Marco, Eustass and me would infiltrate a command post from the enemy and quietly take over. This is secret stuff by the way Law, I don't need to ask you to stay quiet right?'

After he nodded, I continued. 'As soon as we were inside the buildings, the alarm went off. Before we would infiltrate a spy on our side would hack their system and turn of the alarm, but something went wrong so we got noticed right away. We wanted to escape and retreat, but we were already surrounded. Eustass charged first and tried to create an escape route but there were traps, which we didn't know about. Eustass was driven to a wall, when he touched the wall with his elbow a knife or axe like thing came out and cut off his left arm. The General ran after him and shot down two enemy soldiers who tried to get rid of Eustass. He used a smoke bomb after counting the enemies and ordered us in English to stay close behind him.

Smoker knew exactly how and where the enemy was standing so he helped the General take down the enemy soldiers who were confused because of the smoke. I took Eustass who was slowly losing consciousness with me and ran outside to the car in disguise. I wanted to run back to help out the general, but Marco told me the general wanted us three to stay in the car so we could escape as soon as possible. We had these earphones in our ears, so I could hear some sounds from inside. Marco applied first aid to Eustass and asked for back up through the radio that was built-in the car.

After what seemed hours but were only two minutes both Captain Smoker and General Shanks ran outside. General was covered in blood and was struggling to run as fast as he could. Marco started the engine so we could drive away as soon as they got in, but snipers from the enemy were ready to attack. I couldn't stand watching any longer and knew it wasn't my place to disobey the orders since I was still only a foot soldier, but I knew things would go wrong if nothing was to be done. I opened the window which blew the cover for the car, because they didn't know we were in there and took my gun. I pointed at a sniper and shot him. General turned around himself and took out another one while he was already terribly wounded. He took two gunshots I thought, because there was a wound in his leg and one in his left arm. Smoker screamed this wasn't the time to act brave, but the general ordered him to get into the car. He would take care of the snipers.

Smoker didn't listen and started firing himself. There were more snipers than we could see though, so suddenly, the general got shot another three times, one in his left arm and another two in his right shoulder. You'd say he would fall unconscious right away after all that right? Well, he was still standing and ordered Smoker once more to get into the car and drive off. He did listen, but after he took the general by his arm and pulled him to the car with him.

I tried to keep shooting at the sniper who were now targeting the both of them. All this only happened in only a minute and Marco sped off as fast as he could while trying to avoid the gunshots, which isn't possible of course.

As soon as we reached our main base another surprise was awaiting us. The enemy found our base and was now attacking it. We didn't have the time to think of why we fell into this huge trap and how the enemy found out, but all my hope just vanished when seeing the city on fire.'

Law looked up. 'City? Why was your HQ in the middle of a city?'

'The city was already empty when we came there. There was no one to be found. We thought It would be the perfect place to set guards and traps for the enemy and lure them in. Some did fall for it judging by the bodies I saw lying on the ground when we drove past, but it was such a heated battle, we didn't know what the situation was at all.

Marco mentioned he didn't get a response from the base when he asked for back up, this could be the reason why. Marco, Smoker and I stepped out and meddled ourselves into the battle. But guess what? Do you think the General would sit still?'

'He was still conscious after all that?'

'He was a general with a pure heart you could say. Full of bravery and spirit. He would go through any lengths to save even one soldier if needed.'

'He saved your life, didn't he?'

'What makes you think that?'

'Well, the way you talk about him. You didn't even know each other before you joined the army. You were a new recruit in his unit right?'

'Yup, I thought it would be amazing to fight alongside him. Don't get me wrong! He was a respectable man and pretty famous too for all the battles he fought. But that day was a black day for every soldier in his unit. This was a blow for the entire army. He always payed a lot tribute to the battles, won most of them, was good with strategizing and never lost hope. Hope was one of the most important things in a war. If the commander didn't have hope, then how was he going to make the soldiers fight at full strength with the vision of going home to their families one day in mind?'

'And losing him that day, made your unit lose that hope, right?'

'Indeed, because of that, we lost that battle and were driven into a corner. I didn't see how General got killed, but we did retrieve his body and buried it next to the other soldiers that lost their life that day. This should've been on the news Law, didn't you see it?'

'I did, and you have no idea how happy I was to hear you on the phone afterwards, because they didn't show who exactly died that day. Neither did they send reports of it to the families here. That's why most people still think Shanks is alive. You feel responsible to tell them, don't you?'

'Yeah.. and I don't look forward to it. I've seen too much horror in my life to actually get depressed over it, but Luffy and the others would break down with this news. I can't believe no one from the headquarters took the time to tell the families about this.' I tried to smile but didn't manage to do it. Law had a sad look in his eyes. A look I haven't seen for such a long time. I wanted to cheer him up right away after all this heavy news, but didn't know how. Back in the days I always managed to cheer him up by making a fool out of myself, but that didn't work anymore because it became a normal thing. It became part of my personality because it cheered people up. I loved making children laugh. Especially Law, He had to endure way too much. Stuff a child should never have to go through.

'So, what happened last year then?'

I jerked up my head because I was lost in memories from the time Law was still only ten years old. 'I was on a mission. At some point I lost contact with headquarters. When I came back, the admiral had turned off all connections to our families because we were in a dire situation. We almost lost the war but were able to hold out until now. We didn't really 'win' because we lost too many soldiers to even count. It didn't feel like a victory. One of the admirals even called it: Sacrifices for justice. I couldn't agree to that, especially now I have to tell Miss Makino and Lu about General. I can't do it Law.' I held my face in my hands and rubbed my eyes. 'How am I supposed to tell them this? I can't leave it to the others at headquarters, that's for sure. I just feel like an accomplice like me should do it. He saved my life back there Law. I didn't see how he got killed, but he did save me. I had his body in my arms after that battle, that cold body full of holes.' I didn't notice I was rambling on and on about that day. I probably wasn't even making any sense.

'I'll help you. It's alright now. He did something many wouldn't dare to risk, you should tell them that. Tell them how brave he was, so Luffy-ya can keep on admiring him.'

I looked at him pleadingly. 'But won't he be angry? With General and me? I mean.. It's not like General contacted them that much either before he was gone.'

'This will prevent him from feelings like disappointment. He would always keep Shanks-ya in memory as a brave man. What else could Shanks-ya wish for?'

I opened my mouth to say something but shut it.

'Want to go now? I'll drive, you've had too much alcohol. You drank five glasses while you were explaining everything.'

I didn't even notice that. Did I really drink that much already? 'Alright, get the keys.'

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**Some things need to be explained because I'm afraid they won't come back in the story: **

**\- The stuffed toy I mentioned in Chapter 4. Since the base was stationed in the middle of a city, Shanks died after seeing the doll.**

**\- The spy for the army that should've hacked the enemy's system? A double agent for the enemy. Everything was a trap. That's partly why they almost lost the war. **

**\- 'Sacrifices for justice' Who o Who would possibly say that? *ahum* Red Dog *ahum*. **

**\- Corazon ran after Shanks when he got out of the disguised car. He was almost killed but was saved by Shanks. **

**\- Cora says he can't be depressed anymore because he's seen too much, but he actually does suffer from PTSD, he doesn't want to show 'this side of his' to Law in order to look strong and protective in Law's eyes. **

**\- That part about Lu being disappointed.. I wasn't quite sure, but I had a feeling Lu would feel betrayed by Shanks if he knew he died without saying anything because he kinda promised (Like Ace in the OP-story) to never die. I thought what Law said would be 'a small medicine to lessen the pain'. **

**Next theme: 7. Summer**


	7. Chapter 7

**One thing you have to know about me: I think I found out what kind of writing style I've got.. I'm more of the cruel, sad story type.. One of my inspirations is: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R Martin. Says enough right? I always try to insert jokes and such, which isn't too difficult with One Piece because I'm a huge fan of it and thus know one thing and another about it haha. Ah well! Enjoy!**

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**7\. Summer**

I was sitting in the classroom listening to the teacher giving us a hearing about ancient Rome. All the windows were wide open because summer just started and it was already unbearably warm. All the students were just waiting for the bell to ring. It was almost 3:00 PM on Friday and we of all the students in this college just had to had history class as the last class of this semester.

I couldn't pay much attention to what the teacher was saying because my thoughts kept on wandering off to Luffy and Kaya. Not to mention that it was too warm to have any concentration for every boulder made in Rome.

You see, Kaya and I wanted to celebrate our third year of being in a relationship together today. We wanted to do this for a long time, but yeah.. A lot happened the past few months. It's not really that much fun without Luffy. We are all kind of down after what mister Cora told us three months ago.

After the news, Luffy ran off as he often does and no one had seen him ever since. We've been searching but at some point Zoro came with the news we had to leave the guy alone for a while. Where, how or when Zoro decided to conclude this was a mystery. Sanji thought the Mosshead might've found Luffy but didn't want to be found just yet. So we left the matter alone for a while.

Now, we're three months ahead and I couldn't stand to wait any longer. Kaya suggested having his friends around, might help him get over what happened, so Nami and I started to search for him again. I mean, what better therapy you can have? Isn't that what girls always do? Spend a lot time with their friends and eat a lot until they get over it? But I wasn't sure, because men think differently.. so who knows what might work for Luffy right? I know I'm not making much sense.. but hey, the news mister Cora told us wasn't something you could easily deal with.

Not to mention that this wasn't some break-up.. This was about Luffy's adoptive father. They really had a thick father-son bond and Luffy really looked up to the guy. After all these years of believing he could show up any moment.. hearing that he died protecting his soldiers.. that was just.. I don't know.. too much, too heavy, unbelievable, painful and for many other people unbearable.

Dad was quite depressed about it too, though, he did suspect it already and prepared himself for the worst. It didn't help much to relieve his pain though. He, mister Ben and mister Lucky Roo were best buddies for so many years. They were like a family just like our squad, the Strawhat Family.

The bell finally rang and I fled the classroom before anyone could even pack their stuff.

While dodging the students in the hallway I ran as quickly as possible to the parking lot. My phone was ringing but I left it in my pocket because Kaya was already standing next to her car.

She waved at me and showed her precious smile I liked to see so much. She still had dark circles under her eyes and a pale skin because of her disease, but she improved a lot last year with Chopper's and Law's help.

I waved back and gave her a kiss on her cheek. 'You alright?'

She chuckled and took my long nose. 'Why is that always the first thing you ask? No: Hi Kaya, it's been three years now huh? I'm fine captain Usopp. No need to worry!'

I took her hand and scrathed my head with my other. 'Sorry. Couldn't help it.' I smiled apologetically in return. 'So what's the plan?'

Before Kaya could answer my phone rang again. I sighed and took it out this time, wondering who called. Nami's name was on the screen and it looked like she already called six times.. oops..

I picked it up as quickly as I could and asked what happened.

'Why didn't you pick up?!' She sounded angry and Kaya looked at me worried, knowing Nami's temper could switch any moment.

'I was in class! Why the rush?'

'We found Luffy! You need to come now.'

'L-Luffy? How?' I was kind of in shock hearing that. All these three months that guy was untraceable. Not even bro Ace and Sabo could find him.

Kaya unlocked the car so we could get in and drive off. Of course, she wanted to know what happened to him too.

'He's at a beach in a city nearby. He made his own hut there and seems to be working, but that's still unclear. I mean, Luffy working? Remember when-'

'Nami! Where do we meet up?' No offense, but we could go into detail later right? I haven't seen that guy for over three months which was the first time because we've been spending time together with the squad for more than ten years already.

'At Ace's house. Make sure to come quickly.' Nami seemed to have calmed down a little but I could still hear the worried tone in her voice.

'We're on our way.' I took place on the passenger's seat and Kaya drove off. I guess the celebration had to be moved to another date huh?

* * *

**Short chapter, but that was kind of needed here haha… Please stick with me until the end! See ya~**

**Next theme: 8. Spring**


	8. Chapter 8

**I finally came up with a title I can be proud of! Intertwined Hearts seemed fitting to me ^^  
This character in this chapter is my very first OC. I hope you like her! Enjoy. **

**(ps: This girl always pays attention to small details like facial expressions, movements, objects etc to be able to draw a conclusion for herself. It's a way for her to find out what someone thinks of her).**

* * *

**8\. Spring**

The grave changed.

There were lots of card messages, flowers and quite some beer bottles spread around it.

I took one card that said:

_May God bless your soul for eternity. _

_Rest in peace boy. _

_With care,_

_Tsuru. _

A picture with an old woman from the Navy and a few soldiers was stuck to it. I recognized him immediately. You couldn't miss out his hair. He looked young here, around the 25 or so. He had a scar on his left eye and a huge grin. He looked happy and the soldiers around him looked like they were his close friends.

I placed the card with the picture back where I took it from and read a few others.

Why were they all here all of the sudden? There weren't many cards and flowers here three months ago.

In fact, I haven't visited the grave for longer than three months because of my exams, but the grave never had many visitors. The gravestone was altered too. There was a date now on it, unlike before.

My body was getting restless and nagging thoughts were occupying my mind. It made me nervous so I stood up and got ready to leave.

There was one more change however that got my attention. There was a straw hat with a red lint tied to the gravestone, as if to say: Don't touch this. The grave's property.

One would be crazy to steal something from a grave anyway, but it gave some important gesture. I tried to come up with possibilities because I could never stand it when I didn't understand something, but I couldn't come up with anything.

I tightened the thin rope that tied the hat to the gravestone and threw my backpack on my back.

On my way back I could clearly see the change of seasons. Birds with nestlings were seen in the trees and bees and butterflies occupied the flowers.

I didn't like insects so I tried avoiding walking close to flowers. I made a weird move with my head when a bee flew right next to me. I checked my surroundings just to be sure no one close could have possibly seen me and started walking faster towards the end of the park.

I took one more look at the small graveyard and saw the birds once again. This was mostly the only beautiful thing I could come up with for summer. The babies that would be born around this time. A new family would be born every year. Other than that, the weather was way too warm for me. I'd rather have Spring.. The season of love and growth. It wasn't too warm and not too cold.

I noticed I was staring at the bird family so I turned around to leave the park.

Since I still had to get the groceries for dinner, I visited the bar that was on the other side of the small park that was placed next to the graveyard.

I wanted to look through the window to see who was working since there was one man who always tried to ask me annoying questions, but wasn't lucky. A bush of blonde hair was shown, so I gave up hope on seeing someone else.

I walked in and stood before the small cash desk and waited until the perverted man would turn around.

When he did, I saw a completely different face. This man had a burnt scar over his left side of his face and a sad look in his eyes.

He smiled a little and asked how he could be of help.

Instead of answering, I gave him the list with all the stuff I needed.

He raised his eyebrows for a moment and took the paper.

After five minutes, he gave me two plastic bags and named the price. I paid and bowed my head just a little to show some sign of life.

I left quickly and placed the plastic bags on the steering wheel of my bike. I could feel his eyes burning in my back through the window. I didn't really expect to see someone else working in the bar. They both had blonde hair after all..

This was a small village, so I must have looked like a strange person. No one knew me here and I didn't really talk to anyone when needed either..

I turned on my music and chose the song: Northern Lights from Thirty Seconds to Mars. After that, I sped off on my bike to the city.

* * *

I could feel the warm air flowing past me in my red wavy hair and tickling my bare arms and legs. Citizens of the city were mainly spending their time at cafés and bars with wine to enjoy the warm weather. I took a detour to avoid the crowding and ended up riding next to the beach.

I wanted to stop for a moment to take in the smell of the sea but bumped into a man who was carrying two buckets full of fish on the road.

'Watch out you fool!' I yelled as I took a turn to the left to avoid the fool. I placed my foot on the road to avoid falling over. The fool wasn't so lucky.. All the fish he caught that day was spread all over the road but he didn't seem hurt, even though he was lying in the middle of the street.

Several people stopped for a moment to either shake their head, smile and then walk away.

'Sorry! My bad!' He answered with a grin. He stood up, scratched his head and looked painfully at all the fish that was probably spoiled by now.

It didn't look like he meant the apology..

I got off and placed the bike against the balustrade that separates the road from the beach. He walked towards me and placed the empty buckets on the pavement.

I took my time to examine him because he had a familiar look.. I couldn't place my finger on it, but a nagging voice in my head said: You know this guy.

But from where?

He had flat black hair and a little scar under his left eye. He had big round eyes that looked like puppy eyes and what seemed like a permanent grin on his face. He was wearing simple flip-flops, a red t-shirt and short blue jeans.

It almost looked like he just couldn't stand still because he was going back and forth on his feet.

When I met his eyes he was eying me curiously too.

He said: 'Yo! I'm Luffy! I've decided to become a sailor! Who are you? Do I know you?'

He also had an annoying voice..

'Why were you walking on the road without looking out for traffic first?'

'I did! But I didn't see you coming.. I apologized already though! Isn't that enough?' He looked at me as if I just insulted him.

'Never mind. Let's get the fish off the road before it starts smelling horribly. The people won't appreciate that.'

'You didn't tell me your name yet. I told you mine too.' He suddenly had a stern look in his eyes which made me feel irritated. It was like this guy was seeing right through me. I didn't like it at all.

'Why so serious all of the sudden? I didn't ask you to tell me your name.'

For a moment, we looked stubbornly at each other, but the fool changed his expression almost immediately.

'That's true! I still have a feeling I've seen you somewhere before though.. Ah well! We'd better get the fish indeed.' He smirked again and passed me a bucket.

I took it and locked my bicycle before I started to collect the fish along with him.

Talk about weird.. This whole thing was somehow just strange. I almost bumped into a guy who looks familiar and then he acts as if there are no worries in the world at all.

Well, it was nothing special indeed.

It was just, that I still had the nagging feeling I knew him and he seemed to find me looking familiar too. I didn't believe in coincidences so I didn't want to forget about this guy either.

It took us a few minutes to get all the fish. We were lucky there weren't any cars driving by or else it would have taken us much longer to get it all.

My hands smelled horrible and I couldn't wait until I was finally home. Not that I had much time to stay home either. When I checked the time on my watch it was already past five PM.

I cursed myself and took my bicycle as soon as the guy waved and thanked me for helping him out. He promised to buy me a lunch one time which was strange because he didn't know my name, we'll never see each other again and he didn't have my number.

I smiled a little as a response and left.

* * *

After I placed the groceries on the kitchen table and wrote a note to my twin brother Naito about my appointment with Dr. Law, washed my hands twice with soap, I took my bicycle once more and left for the private hospital.

It was only five minutes away, so luckily, I arrived just in time. I knocked on the door that had Law's nameplate on it and opened it when a tired voice said: 'Come in.'

The study looked as old fashioned as always. It was the typical 'Psychologist' sort of room. It had one oaken desk with a big dark green comfy chair where the doctor was sitting on. One wall was covered with a bookshelf. Both old, new, small and big books filled shelf until the ceiling.  
He had several photographs on the desk and the wall with himself, friends and his adoptive father Rocinante. Law always calls him: Cora however.. I have no idea why myself but the doctor refuses to talk about it. It's not: Professional to talk about his own life to his clients.

I don't really see him as my therapist any longer though.. Over the years he's become more of a friend than a formal relationship thing..  
Maybe it's because of our pasts, but I was never sure. He just seemed like one of the few people who never pushed any subject and just listened whenever I wanted him to listen. He never forced anything upon me, he really looked at what I wanted and helped me that way.

It sounded strange, I knew that, but he was seriously the only therapist who broke through my invisible wall.

I took a seat in one of cozy chairs that matched the chair Law was sitting on and noticed a boy around my age sitting at a small table on the floor next to the bookshelf.  
He had brown messy hair and a slightly bronzed skin. He wore a white with yellow striped shirt and blue trousers. He was writing something down as if he only had three seconds to cut off the right thread before the bomb would explode.

His tongue was sticking out a little and his bluish nose was wrinkled along with his forehead because he was concentrating that much.

I looked at Law and raised my eyebrows for an explanation. He never said anything about another person joining us after all.. I'm not going to talk in front of a stranger about how messed up my life used to be.

He leaned backwards and started talking. 'Chopper, Nagisa's here.' The boy didn't respond so Law repeated his name louder this time.

The boy looked up confused and stood up immediately after he saw he. 'S-Sorry! I didn't see you coming in! I'm Chopper. I'm a trainee here because I need to work 400 hours this year in order to get more experience for my studies. I hope you wouldn't mind if I could join the conversation? I won't tell anyone about this. I will be mainly paying attention to how Doctor Law interacts with you. I won't say anything either.'

He will still be here though..

'I asked him to be here since he could learn a lot from this. I should've asked you last time first, but we thought it didn't matter if we asked you now too. Are you fine with it?'

'Hmm.. As long as he really doesn't tell anyone I guess..'

Why? Why? Why? Why did I have to agree? I knew it was a struggle for students to get experience when they were in college or university, not that I was a college student myself yet, but the authorities warned the students for available places as trainees.  
It wouldn't mind much if he was with us this one time right? After all, he doesn't know anything about me, so he wouldn't get most of what we're saying anyway.

I moved uncomfortably in my chair that didn't feel very comfy any longer.

'Thank you!' He took out another notebook and started to write something down again.

Law took a file from a drawer and opened it. My picture and probably a lot of information about myself was on it. He searched through and found a paper with a recent date.

* * *

**This will be continued in the next chapter! **

**Next theme: 9. Snowflakes**


	9. Chapter 9

**And the meeting Nagisa and Law have continues~ Enjoy! (I'm not really sure how to insert the theme itself, I'm just moving along with the storyline.. )**

* * *

**9\. Snowflakes**

Sun, warm air, dry, rain, snow, storms, cold air and the one day where the weather is just perfect, nor warm, nor cold, sun is shining and the sky is blue.  
That's what most people would say, but for me? Hell no. I grew up in an ice cold country where the snowflakes were so big, artists had all the time to paint them before they would melt. THAT was my kind of weather. Snow, hot chocolate and Christmas. I'd gladly switch this hot summer day for winter.

Of course, you're not reading this to hear me ramble on about the weather.

So, we were sitting in Law's study sipping the tea he just made. It's been ten minutes since Law was trying to get Nagisa to talk through chitchat, but up until now it didn't really work.

I had to admit: Nagisa was a strange girl. As Law described it, the red-haired girl always responded in both body language and verbally as if she had to survive. That wasn't strange considering what she had to go through.  
Law told me about her before she arrived. Their pasts were partly connected. After mister Cora found her, he brought her to Law. The past two years she's been under his supervision. They had an appointment every week and she grew fairly close to him, which was a miracle actually..  
Mister Cora didn't manage to convince her twin brother Naito though.

Anyway, let me tell you what happened during this appointment.

As I already told you, it was hard for Law to get her to talk. Therapists tend to try to make 'contact' with the person first so they can grow a professional bond and trust. In Nagisa's case, she already thought of him as an older brother or benefactor.

You can guess why she refused to say a lot now right? I was there. To her, I was a complete stranger who was analyzing her behavior, the way Law interacted with her and how I could help my clients in the future in the best way possible.  
It was interesting for me, as a student, to see how Law would break down her invisible wall after a while.

He asked her about an assignment he gave her last week.

She took a paper out of her pocket and placed it on the desk. When she was about to explain what it said, the door was thrown open by no one other than mister Cora himself. I wanted to slam my face on the table, because, come on! She was finally going to talk and he just had to rush in with a pink apron and a plate full of freshly baked cookies.

'' What are you doing here?! Go back home already! '' Law shouted as soon as mister Cora placed the cookies on his desk.

He had as always his own unique style of dressing himself. He was for some reason wearing make-up that made him resemble some kind of mad clown, like the Joker from Dark Knight. He had drawn a green star over one eye and red lipstick or something on his mouth.  
When I just met him a few days ago, I found it quite scary, but as soon as I got to know him I couldn't help but think of him as an overprotective mother-like type of person. Other than this, he worked for the army, always smoked cigarettes and was probably an even bigger dork than Luffy. Says a lot right?

I started to respect the man, even though he might be strange. But hey, in this country everyone was kind of unique.

He was Law's adoptive father. Before he came back from the war, Law used to be a very tense person. Mister Cora took care of him ever since he was little. After his parents and sister died because of a contagious sickness (which Law had too), he managed to escape that village and found Corazon eventually. Mister helped him cure the sickness since Law was born into a family existing of doctors and decided to become one himself.  
I didn't know the details because Law refused to reveal a lot about his past.

'' What are you talking about Law? The house is behind this small hospital. It's only obvious I would be here! '' He took a cookie, swallowed it whole and turned to the red-haired girl. '' Good to see you again Nagisa! How have you been? And Chopper! Law isn't driving you mad yet with his crazy practices? '' He grinned at me and I smiled back.

'' No mister, everything is going well! ''

''Okay then! I'll be leaving again. Nagisa, you wanted to talk to me right? '' He had a serious and worried look and waited for her answer.

Nagisa gulped and nodded. She was playing with the paper and didn't directly answer his gaze.

'' Alright, come to our home after this session, ok? See ya folks! Oh and Chopper, if Law ever bothers you, feel free to come to me! '' He smirked one last time and left.

Law cursed and took a deep breath. '' So? Tell me about your assignment. ''

Nagisa looked up and answered. '' Wave/Shore. Depending on how you write my name in Japanese. This is the meaning of Nagisa. I used that for the assignment. ''

Nagisa had to think of a word that she felt it would describe her or be important to her. It could be anything, but apparently, it surprised Law as he raised his eyebrows.

'' Continue. ''

She moved uncomfortably and glanced my way as if she was thinking: _He isn't going to make fun of me, is he? _

She mumbled: '' Can't you just read it yourself, Law? ''

Law sighed. '' I want to hear it from you Nagisa. I find it an interesting choice. You understand why I made you do this, right? ''

'' In order to understand myself better. '' She pursed her lips but didn't go against him.

'' Indeed, and it seems you figured it out. Please explain it to me. ''

'' I chose it because the sea always seems to be a relaxing and calming place to be. It looks great and beautiful and it eventually relaxes you. But as soon as you get into the water deeper and deeper, you'll realize it contains many secrets and that it's quite a dangerous place to be. If you don't move along with the waves, then they'll pull you in and you'll drown. ''

Law stayed quiet for a moment. '' ..So, you're saying that you look like you have everything in order and that people don't directly see what's going through you and as soon as they try to get to know you, they'll realize there is a lot more to you than they originally thought. If they don't watch what they say or do in your presence, then you might as easily shut yourself off from them, am I right? ''

She nodded.

He smiled a little and asked what she thought of this assignment.

She shrugged. '' I already knew this about myself though. It's my comfort zone I guess.. Doing this made it feel so official, as if I'm labeling myself now. ''

'' Does that bother you? '' He asked while pouring a second cup of tea for the girl.

'' I don't know.. What are we going to do with this? '' She replied as she looked at him with her head held to one side.

'' Depends on what you want to do with this. ''

Sighing, she places the paper on the table. '' I only have Naito and you. You're the only ones who seem to care about me at all. Why would I try to improve myself? ''

'' Do you expect people to come to you if you keep that invisible wall around you? ''

That's not something I would have asked a client, because it was a risky question which could cause someone to start defending themselves, but then again, Law and Nagisa seemed to know each other really well, so it was kind of normal for them to interact this way I guess..

'' I know that, but.. I just don't know how. '' She clenches her fists, not in anger, she didn't seem angry at all, she was rather calm. She did say she looked calm and collective but was rather.. what was the right word? Messed up on the inside? Was she trying to keep herself together by clenching her fists?

'' Why don't you start in the village nearby? You already visited that place several times for the grave of your late dad right? ''

Shanks. This was the subject I was most curious about. Law told me she was Shanks' daughter. That would make Naito his son. Law didn't tell me how, when or why, but the fact she never met him made me kind of sad.

Only the past two years she was able to lead a bit of a normal and stable life. She was finally going to school again, had a normal health (Nagisa has a weak body), had a place she could call home and she got reunited with her twin brother.

She and her twin brother never met each other before these two years. They were separated at birth. That was just cruel right? One of the first things I learned about twins was to never separate them against the parents' or their own will.

'' Yeah.. Do these villagers know me Law? '' She asked and looked pleadingly at him.

'' He didn't know about you or Naito, Nagisa. I have no idea whether the villagers recognize you since you look a lot like him, but Shanks didn't, so how would they? ''

She crossed her legs on the chair and didn't say anything for a while.

My thoughts were trailing off to Luffy. After work, I had to go to Ace's place. They finally found out where he was hiding himself. What you call 'hiding'… He even had a job there. No one knew why Luffy would go that far. Even Ace and Sabo were surprised Luffy was acting this way.

I just hoped Luffy's pain wasn't as heavy as in the beginning. I was there when mister Cora and Law came to the bar to tell miss Makino and Luffy the news. The memory was too painful for even me to think of. We all tried to stop him, but he ran off anyway..

Now he was really just waiting until it was five pm so he could get all the details.

The sound of moving chairs made me realize I was not paying attention to the conversation. Law stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. '' You'll do fine, ok? Remember what I said, I don't mind going with you if it helps you feel better. ''

She nodded and said good bye.

* * *

**Yeah.. I study for Social Worker myself, so it was kinda interesting for me to write this haha **

**Next theme: 10. Silhouettes.**


	10. Chapter 10

**In ch9 Chopper mentioned going to Nami's place, this is supposed to be Ace's place. Sorry for the mistake!  
Chapter 7,8,9 and 10 take place on the same day! Enjoy ^^**

* * *

**10\. Silhouettes**

'' _Stop crying! '' _

'' _Clean yourself! Is this how you show yourself in front of your masters?! '' _

'' _Apologize! '' _

'' _You worthless trash! '' _

_Big shadows lumped over me. They all shouted the same things over and over again. _

_I felt small._

_I was alone. _

_I was terrified. _

_I kept on apologizing, with each apology I tried to my best even more, more and more. It was never enough. _

_Hands of the shadows tried to catch me. When they got closer, close enough to touch me, their faces were shown. _

_Strange humans in clothing astronauts wore with too much make-up on, their hair in strange coupes and eyes that said they wished you would die already. _

_They hated me and I was scared of them. They enjoyed watching me suffer, so I tried again. _

_One hand almost caught me by my neck when I thought I woke up. I was lying in my bed, sweating and anxiousness washed through my body like I experienced never before.  
The same shadow that almost caught me showed up on top of me.  
This time it used both its hands to hold my neck. _

_I couldn't move._

_I was paralyzed.. by fear? _

_No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move. _

_I didn't know how long it lasted, but the pain was real. _

_Never before, I was more afraid than this time. My neck hurt, my body didn't move and I cried desperately, but nu sound came from my mouth. _

'' _Koala… '' The shadow said. It was a male's voice, a deep voice I knew too well. _

I woke up the moment the shadow called my name.

Sweating and shaking, I tried to stand up and stumbled downstairs.

'' Sabo? '' With a breaking voice I called out to the blonde. There was no response. Panicking already, I started to look in the living room, kitchen and finally the garden.

It was almost evening. The sun was going down and someone was standing in the garden watching the sunset.  
It made the person look like a shadow which made me want to throw up because of the nightmare I just had.  
The silhouette turned around and held up its hand.

'' S-Sabo? '' Tears showed up in my eyes as the silhouette now came running towards me.

In no time, a familiar scent entered my nose. I wrapped my arms around his waist while he held me in his arms very tightly.

I started sobbing and couldn't say anything for a while. He stayed quiet too while caressing my hair.

My entire body was shaking, warm and the anxious feeling was still there while the echo of the male shadow in the nightmare saying my name still ringed in my ears.  
After I managed to calm down, Sabo started to whisper in my ear. '' It's alright, it was that nightmare again, wasn't it? ''

After I nodded, he continued. '' And then the Sleep Paralysis hit you. ''

It wasn't a question, so I stayed quiet, not being able to talk yet. '' It's over now. The past won't repeat itself. I won't let that happen Koala, do you trust me? ''

He already knew my answer, but this was the ritual we performed every time I had this nightmare. I nodded again.

'' You're safe with us. You're mine and I'm yours, right? ''

I held him tighter as a response.

After a minute or so, he held my face with his hands and wiped away my tears with his thumbs. Then he held his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. '' I'm here for you, Koala. ''

Automatically, I closed my eyes too.

The nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. I dreamed about it because I sort of had to go through this. It was a long time ago, when I was just a kid, but I never got over it. This was what rested of that past.

After Sabo opened his eyes, he couldn't help but start joking around. He's always been awkward with situations like these. He never knew exactly what to say or do. Though, I already appreciated he did all this every single time and never grew tired of me.

'' Now it looks like you have only one eye. How do couples in movies do this all the time? '' He said with a chuckle.

I couldn't help but smile a little and looked up at him. '' Thank you. '' I said, almost whispering.

'' For what baby? '' He held his head to one side and pierced those sea blue puppy eyes in mine.

'' For always being there for me. I wish these dreams would stop, but every time you are there and won't do anything else until I've calmed down. '' She hesitated for a moment. '' .. How? '' She asked with an insecure look in her eyes.

'' How? Koala everyone is afraid of something. Some are less than others. Having nightmares is part of that. Dreams show you memories you want to forget. They haunt you until you are scared to go to bed. You're standing here in front of me, living another day trying to get over that past. You're strong. Having these nightmares and facing them every time over and over again only means you're strong. You're fighting to beat them. That's how Koala. I admire your strength. I want to be there for you to help you get through this shit. I want to beat them with you. '' He had a blush on his face and a stubborn look in his eyes. He smiled at me and gave me a peck on my forehead.

'' Let's get ready okay? Nami is waiting for us. '' He took my hand and led me inside the house.

The sun was down now so it was getting dark quickly. I followed him inside, still in a haze because of what he said. It was unusual for him. Normally until a while ago, he used to be a typical dork together with Ace that made their little brother Luffy the idiot he is now.  
Sabo had a hard time understanding others, never followed orders from people and joked around every single say.

Lately, he's been more serious, more worried and less the dork he used to be.

I wasn't sure whether I liked that or not..

* * *

'' Where is that shitty Zoro? '' said a blonde guy in a suit while lightning his cigarette.

They decided to have dinner at Ace's place. Sanji, the blonde guy, prepared it in advance while Zoro, another comrade, would bring the alcohol.  
All Luffy's friends and relatives were here. Normally, everyone would naturally gather at Makino's bar, but it didn't seem right to gather there this time.  
Not to mention that Makino isn't even running the bar for a while. Dadan, a woman who used to babysit the three brothers when they were little is running it currently.

It was amazing to see how many friends Luffy actually had. I never really paid close attention to it and rather took it for granted.  
Even the princess, Vivi was on Skype to be with us in some way.  
The guy really knew how to make friends unconsciously. I was a bit jealous of that.. I never knew when or how to trust people right away. It always took me a long time before I managed to open up to someone and create an emotional bond.  
All Luffy had to do was showing his charming smile and somehow people almost never managed to say 'no' to him. He knew what people's weaknesses, strong qualities and fears were. He didn't particularly 'use' it, but this is what made it easier for others to trust him. He saw through you even though he was one of the biggest idiots walking around on this planet.  
This made him strong and gentle, but also fearsome as an enemy.

To sum it up, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Law, Franky, Robin, Brook, Zoro, Ace, Marco, Kaya, Bartolomeo, Rebecca, Boa Hancock, uncle Jinbei, Sabo and me were present.  
And these weren't even all of Luffy's friends. This is what Nami managed to gather in one day on the very same day they found him.  
We all gathered for one reason of course: Luffy has been found. Everyone was worried sick about the guy and we all wanted to bring him back, but it would be strange if we all jumped in our cars and sped off to him. Wouldn't it scare him away?

Who was I kidding? Luffy scared? If anything, he would be glad to see everyone there to cheer him up.

Koala made a mental note to bring this up during the meeting. Meanwhile, Sanji finished preparing the two dining tables and Zoro came rushing in, saying his Maps app broke down. As response, Sanji kicked him on his head (Seriously, that guy could do ballet and win all kinds of prizes, the way he lifted his leg so high so easily? I would have broken mine..) and claimed the Green-head lost his way.

Zoro also managed to drink one bottle of wine already….

When everyone sat down and the plates were filled (Don't ask me why or how the food was gathered and prepared so quickly for an emergency meeting about a lost friend, but Sanji was a professional when it came to occasions like these and he insisted he would cook for everyone, so we accepted the offer. Ace and Sabo didn't ever want to turn down a food offer by Sanji, but I could see the worry about their little brother in their eyes..which made me less hungry for the food on my plate..) Nami gave a brief summary about what happened today.

'' So in short, Robin found him on a beach in the city. He is working in a fishing shop which is a surprise to be honest.. '' Some people muttered: You can say that again, and: Luffy working? '' ..and he looks, at least, healthy. He doesn't seem to be really depressed, but then again: It's Luffy. He doesn't show his emotions that quickly. '' She took a sip from her wine and continued. '' I gathered everyone because we need to come up with a way to for one: To cheer him up and two: How sad it may be, he can't spend the rest of his life there right? He just graduated from school and all.. I think we've given him enough time by now to recover from the biggest shock. ''

Maybe it was just me, but was she avoiding the subject about Shanks? Not that it bothered me.. No one really liked talking about it.

'' Of course, for him it's not something he can easily get over with, it will take way more time, but avoiding contact with all of us? Isn't that supposed to be the one thing that could help him right now? He's always been there for us, so I'd like to show him what he means to us this time. '' She stubbornly looked at everyone as if to say: Don't you dare oppose me.

It was unusual for Nami to talk in such a warm way about her friends. She was more of the strict and harsh kind. She normally showed her caring side in different ways. So I couldn't blame the rest for looking a bit surprised at her for being so loving and caring right now.

Alright, this looked like some official meeting about: How to help a friend? But you know.. To us, this was very important. We couldn't just barge in that fisher's shop and drag Luffy back home, and if he didn't want to come back, then we couldn't possibly force him, right?  
I actually liked the way everyone was gathered here in the evening discussing about how to get Luffy back. Maybe it was good to talk about the past events too.

Even Ace and Sabo didn't know what exactly to do.. Ace was the one who found Luffy. He tried talking to him, but the boy simply didn't listen.

If Luffy's older brothers couldn't get him back on track, then how on earth could the bunch of us help him out?

'' T-Then what do you suggest we do, Nami? '' The long-nosed man called Usopp said. '' Bro Ace didn't manage and he and Sabo are like gods to Luffy. What could we possibly do then? ''

'' Maybe we can organize something! Like a Welcome back party! '' A boy called Chopper said with gleaming eyes.

'' We appreciate the thought Chopper and it would be nice, but would it really be welcoming in this case? '' Sanji answered as he patted the boy on his head.

'' O-Oh.. Yeah.. Sorry.. '' Chopper now had a guilty look in his eyes which made me feel sorry for him. He tried to help after all. The boy always had this 'little brother-look' which made you want to pinch his cheeks and give him hugs..

I gulped and made up my mind. '' U-Uhm.. '' As soon as I started to stumble I could feel Sabo's eyes burning in my back. '' Can't we all go after all? I mean, if my friends would suddenly all gather to surprise me, I'd actually be happy. Isn't that what Luffy needs right now? To see he's still got his friends and family? ''

Why was saying this making me so nervous? All those piercing eyes… Maybe I shouldn't have said that after all?

'' All Luffy's thinking now is about the loss he has to endure. '' Sabo jumped in and I was very grateful he did that. The attention was now drawn to him.

Uncle smiled. '' He needs to realize what's left, not what he lost. That is one of the most important things in life we tend to forget. '' He always managed to say some philosophical stuff you couldn't deny. He was right and we all knew that. Luffy needed to realize his friends were there for him. He didn't have to bear this alone.

'' Right, and if everyone goes, maybe he'll realize he doesn't have to shut himself off for everyone. So why aren't we on our way already? '' Ace replied with his mouth full of food.

Marco, a blonde guy with tired looking eyes gave him a napkin and sighed. '' That would be lovely yoi, but we've all got different schedules for work, school and other stuff, so we need to plan a time every single contact can gather to go. ''  
He had this funny way to end many of his phrases: Yoi. I never understood why he did it, but it fitted his personality.

Zoro crossed his arms. '' We can't possibly all gather at the same time. This isn't even half of all the friends Luffy has. ''

'' There will always be people who won't show up. We can't avoid that. '' Law added.

'' Thanks for your positivity, Law. '' Franky replied sarcastically.

'' I always be there no matter what for mister Luffy! '' A green-chicken haired man called Bartolomeo shouted.

'' We heard you loud and clearly. '' Sabo held a hand against his ear because he was sitting next to the man. Apparently.. he was a 'fan' of Luffy… I never figured out why. Sabo didn't like it however.

'' Me too! Me too! Whenever you can, I'll be there! '' Hancock added with gleaming eyes and red cheeks.

Nami's eye twitched. '' Just send me all your schedules and I'll see what I can do to gather the most of us. Meanwhile, someone needs to check on him from time to time. ''

'' Leave that to Ace and me. We'll keep a watch on Lu. Right bro? '' Sabo smiled at the freckled man.

'' Definitely. '' Ace smirked and finished the rest of his food. '' Seconds Sanji! ''

'' Wait a moment. '' Sanji went to the kitchen and brought another bowl full of salad. Just how quickly did these people eat?

'' I'll send mine right away Nami! I'm really busy, but I'll definitely make time to come. Tell me if there is anything else I can do! '' Princess Vivi said from the laptop screen. She even had some snacks lying around. I was already wondering if she wasn't getting hungry. Earlier, Sanji felt so bad not being able to give her anything, but Vivi's cook promised to make as much as the princess needed.

'' I'll app you tonight Vivi! And you too Robin. I need your help if we have to find a time to meet up. ''

'' Sure. '' Sis Robin said with a smile on her face.

This was basically the meeting. I didn't expect it to be this easy. I thought an entire plan would be formed on how and what we were going to do, but sometimes the solution really was to think simple right? After all, that's one of Luffy's motto's.

The rest of the evening was quite relaxed. I got to know some people I never directly knew before like Rebecca and Kaya. They were quiet girls, but fun once you got to know them.

At some point, I completely forgot about my worries from that morning and actually felt calm and happy being able to be myself around everyone.

They were all confident Luffy would come back and so was I.

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**7 favorites! Thank you! Even if it's just a small amount, I don't care! I'm already happy to have a few readers to share this with ^^ **

**Next theme: 11. Sickly**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ace is sick and clearly doesn't like writing.. double ouch.. Enjoy!**

**11\. Sickly**

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Listen up. I'm not in the mood to tell you an entire story of the day we went to get Lu back. I'm sick right now and hell, I'm not even good at writing stuff down. That's Sabo's territory. He loves writing stories, not me. So if you're not satisfied with my storytelling or whatever it's called, go blame the author of this story. She made me do this.

Oh yeah, by the way, I'm Ace. I may look grumpy and all right now, but do you have any idea how annoying it is to be sick? I never got sick before! I refuse to go to the doctor though. That Law is just scary, don't tell the others I said this!

Alright, so here's what happened after Nami, Robin and princess Vivi managed to find a day to get Lu back.  
It wasn't that easy, I mean, I've seen the guy at the beach. He was working casually and happily like there were no worries in the world as Lu is really good at, but his eyes told me different. He WAS sad alright.  
And the worst of all? I didn't manage to talk to him. The others think I did talk to him but he simply refused to come back, but the truth is: He ignored me. Painful? Hell yes. My own little brother refused to talk to me.  
I felt like I failed at being an older bro. I was supposed to protect him, but there I stood, shocked the guy didn't even say anything back.

How could I not have realized the news hit him this hard?  
The day Cora and Law came to the bar to tell us the news.. anger and sadness flared inside me again just thinking about it.

There were a few customers, but those were mostly Lu's friends, so naturally, Lu said it would be okay if they heard it too.

The moment they told us about Shanks, Makino fell down on her knees in tears, sobbing into Dadan's shirt. Lu ran away screaming and crying. Sabo and I ran after him, but that guy was just really fast and soon we lost him. It took us three months to find him.

Three entire months. We were worried sick, literally. I never expected the guy would be able to handle himself in such a state.  
Shanks meant so much for him you see. Shanks being his guardian and all, he gave him a life he could have never wished for.

We were all a family. We finally had a stable and good life. Even after he had his duty as an officer in the army. The first few years he'd been sending messages. He even said once he couldn't wait until Lu would start the training course. Lu, however, wasn't looking forward to that because that would mean receiving training from his grandfather Garp.

Luffy hoped for five long years Shanks was alive. No one dared to tell him otherwise. We asked all the people we knew at the Navy headquarters if we could get some information about Shanks, but they didn't give anything away.  
Even Cora didn't understand why they kept everything hidden.

After three months many of Lu's friends joined the trip to the beach. We were all gathered in four cars. Crazy right? Just to get one guy back on track they were all ready to surprise him this way.

If it would only work..

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Luffy has this many friends, loyal friends. He deserved a happy life..

So the entire group was divided into several cars. In our car Law was driving, Sanji was sitting next to him and Koala, Sabo and I shared the backseats. Sabo was teasing Koala about her always peachy colored cheeks, but she was trying really hard not to react.

I took her hat, to help him out a little and of course, Koala didn't like that at all.

'' Ace! Give it back! '' She tried to take her hat while I kept it out of reach. Grinning, I threw it to Sabo who kept on kissing her every time she tried to reach for it.

Naturally, the ladies' man Sanji, didn't like it either so he yelled we 'despicable' brothers had to stop teasing her and give it back.  
Sabo put the hat back on her head while trying to make jokes to cheer her up again, but the young woman tried really hard to stay angry and her cheeks became more and more orange/red.

After an hour, the sea came in sight. I knew why Lu liked this place. This was a famous spot for tourists too. It had a calming effect, not only the sea, but the snack bars, shops and small parks on the road which separated the beach from the shops also had a calm but party-like effect.

The guy could do whatever he wanted here. Stare at the waves all day, swim, surf, play with the sand (He still enjoys building castles), eat, fish, skate around and so on. It was perfect for the boy to lose his energy here.

And on top of all that, he even had a job, which surprised me the most of all.

We stopped on a parking lot and gathered.

Yeah, I'm not going to mention who's here and who's not. There are just too many people. I'll just mention them whenever they say something, okay?

Sabo and I knew where Lu was, so we went to check up on him first. We've been watching over him the past few days while the girls tried to find a suitable time to gather. When we arrived at the shop we found Luffy putting a bucket of fish on a table. After that, he went to a small restaurant to probably buy food, I mean what else could he buy?

Sabo ran back to the others and told them to wait on a certain spot at the beach.  
We knew Luffy would go there to eat his food and enjoy the sunset. I could see why this was his favorite place to eat his dinner. It had a clear view of the sunset and in the distance you could see a mountain with trees and all kinds of nature on it. It was the one place that didn't have the 'city-atmosphere'.

We all sat down and waited until Lu would approach to sit under the palm tree. He wouldn't directly see us until he'd climbed up the rocky hill.

Another thing I didn't notice until that moment about this place was that it had a calming effect. It made me want to lie down and watch the sun go down while taking a nap.

Soon enough, Lu arrived and looked shocked around. Some people grinned, others looked sympathetic and then there were the people who didn't know how to react like Usopp for example.

'' W-What are you…? '' Luffy stumbled over his words.

'' Listen up buddy. '' I replied. '' You're not going to ignore me this time. Everyone came here to show you something important. ''

As expected, he wanted to run away instantly. He was a stubborn little fellow after all. Though, I didn't get why he avoided his normal life.

Zoro and Sanji, two of his best buddies grabbed his arms and made him stand in front of all of us.

Sure, I admit it, this was crazy and pretty intimidating for someone who still wasn't over his guardian's death, but we all had the feeling this was needed right now.

'' Listen Luffy, as bro Ace said, we wanted to show you we're here for you man. '' Usopp started.

I have to tell you though, we planned this trip up until this very moment. Now everything was left to inspiration and luck, because you never know with Luffy. So, as Zoro likes to say: Let's leave it to fate.

Jinbei, Koala's uncle, stepped forward with his arms and hands covered in the sleeves of his kimono. He stopped in front of the boy looking all serious and patient.

Luffy, however, was confused, angry, sad and probably more stuff a person could possibly feel. He probably wanted to shout a thousand things at Sabo and me for doing this to him. And yeah, we deserved it. But sometimes you've got do this the hard way right?

If he'd listen to us now, we could hear him out about his part of the story. By only asking questions now, Lu would never ever listen to us. He had too much going on in his mind to talk normally about this matter.

At least, that's how our favorite doctor Law explained it. Sabo agreed immediately, but all I wanted was my little brother back as soon as possible. I didn't care about mental doctor stuff. I didn't have the patience to stand still and listen to a word-battle with 20 of us against 1 boy.

'' Luffy. '' Jinbei said. '' Do you see everyone here? Your important comrades? I'm sure you haven't forgotten them, have you now? ''

Ouch.

Sabo made a painful face and whispered: '' Lu isn't going to like that one. ''

And sure enough, it was as if a bomb exploded. If Sanji and Zoro weren't holding him , the boy would definitely have attacked Jinbei. And really, you don't want Lu to fight you out of anger. That guy can be a beast.

'' Of course I haven't forgotten them Jinbei! What do you know about this?! Just leave me alone already! '' Lu screamed at the elder.

'' Then what are you doing here shutting yourself off from everyone? ''

The boys eyes turned sad and shocked for a moment, but he recovered himself almost right away. He was about to answer, but Jinbei continued. '' Luffy. '' He stated once more. '' Instead of thinking what you've lost, isn't it time to start thinking what you have left? ''

I could see Lu was trying to stay angry, but this question made him start thinking. That was the one thing we needed. Then his eyes started tearing up and Sabo almost wanted to rush forward to him.

I nodded at Sanji and Zoro however and they let Luffy's arms go. The blond haired Sanji lay a hand on the boy's shoulder. '' We know, you shithead. There's no need to be alone in this. We're your friends after all. '' He said with a soft voice.

'' You've got us mate. '' The green haired Zoro continued.

Luffy rubbed his eyes with his hands and quietly sobbed as tears were running down his face. He really looked like a child here and it made me want to run towards him so badly just like Sabo wanted. And hell.. This was painful alright? Seeing your little brother breaking apart is no fun.

Nami, Usopp, Brook, Franky and Chopper were also crying because reasons.. I have no idea why they always teared up so easily.. But it was kind of sweet.. somehow..

So instead of me and Sabo running towards Lu someone unexpected did it for us.

Nico Robin walked towards him in all her grace or however Sanji calls the ladies and hugged Luffy. She rested her head on his hair and closed her eyes.

People liked calling her: Mama Bear. Because she really was the 'mother' of Luffy and his friends. This time too, it looked like she was taking over his pain and allowed him to break apart in her arms so the others wouldn't have to directly see it.

I'LL ADMIT IT. I teared up too. Happy now?

I hated seeing him like that and I did miss Shanks too. I knew Lu's pain just like almost everyone here did. I wanted his cheerful smile back. I wanted him to wake me up every morning, way too early, again because he was hungry.

Nevermind the last part, I still don't like that. Sleeping is important.

All in all, this lasted a few minutes, and after that we all sat down and Sanji brought out the food that was still in the cars. Luffy sat in-between Sabo and me and was quiet. Sabo squeezed his shoulder for a moment to let him we were there for him.

He tugged at our shirts and whispered: '' I need to tell you something.. ''

'' For now, rest and enjoy. We'll talk after this okay buddy? '' Sabo replied with a smile.

Did you expect more feely stuff? This was mostly what happened that day. We enjoyed the meals and the sunset. We laughed, sang and enjoyed the bonfire until late in the night.

That definitely made Lu wanting to come back home.

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**Enjoyed writing the chapter after all Ace? **

**Next theme: 12. Sandstorm **


	12. Chapter 12

**Heyyoo~! Alright, so I got one review from a guest, but I have no idea what to do with it. It's the opposite from 'specific' really, so please sweeties, if you have a tip/advice/typo/whatever then be clear about what it is you want to say. By simply typing: I don't understand what you're saying! Isn't really going to make me think: Oh but I know exactly what you mean!  
So yeah.. In short: Try to be clear in what you want to say, thank you haha xD I can't read minds. **

**Law's Pov! Enjoy! **

**12\. Sandstorms**

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Sandstorms eh… It's going to be hard to write something related to that.

Oh.

Hi. My name is Law. You already know me you say? Good. Because I don't feel like explaining. The author asked me to write something that's called a 'pov'?

Well then. I won't write about sandstorms. That's bothersome.

Let's just continue the storyline, shall we?

A/N: '' You can't just abandon a theme Law! This was meant to be a challenge after all! ''

Nah. I do what I want alright. So, the story right?

Where were we…. Let me grab my notes.. Ah.. Here they are.

So Luffy-ya came back after three months of wasting his time on a beach. He accepted Shanks-ya's death and lives with his brothers again. In case you're wondering: Makino-ya was very pleased to see him again and actually smiled for the first time after Cora and I told her the news.

The day after he came back he and Makino-ya went to his grave and finally managed to say goodbye to Shanks-ya. It felt as a closure, so now it's time for them to recover.

I would like to tell you more, but I'm being lazy.

So I'll move on to the next subject.

The reason the author asked me to write this chapter was because of Nagisa. Do you remember the girl with red hair? As you know already, I'm her therapist and probably only friend.  
She's been a tough nut to crack alright. I haven't had such a difficult patient for a long time.

Recently, I managed to take a few steps forward. After our previous meeting she went to Cora to talk about some recent events. Well, she didn't want me to know about it, but Cora told me nevertheless afterwards. It wasn't an easy situation..

But before I can tell you about that conversation, I've got to tell you something else first.

Nagisa never led a normal life. In fact, it was really messed up. If it happened right at her birth, then she wouldn't be as traumatized as she was now. She wouldn't know any better. But. It happened only after she was five years old, which made it really hard for her. Until two years ago, it's been one big mess that is probably almost impossible to 'clean up'. With cleaning up, I mean: Forgetting the past.

It's probably her biggest weakness and fear by now. She doesn't want to go back to that time any longer, which Cora and I completely understand.

Now you're probably thinking: What did happen to her then?

Well, I'll tell you. But you've got to stay quiet about it. You'd die anyway if you talked about it, so not a toughie right?

Ever since Nagisa was born, her mother taught her to think in a survival kind of way. Sounds strange? It does. Definitely not normal for a child. Her mother however, did this with a reason. She was a wanted fugitive among the nobles.

With nobles, I mean one family particularly.

After Nagisa was born, her twin brother was separated from her. The reason for this remains unknown to this day. Not even Nagisa has found out. So the girl always had a feeling she was missing someone. It was a strange thing to explain and it was hard for her to tell me, but it was like you knew someone was out there. Like another half. I asked her whether it was a part of her heart was missing and she agreed.  
Ever since she was reunited with her brother two years ago you could immediately see they shared some kind of special bond. Even among twins this was kind of special. They knew what the other was thinking, feeling or whether they were close to each other not. She could sense him from a distance and sometimes they shared the same thoughts, memories or dreams.  
That was what Nagisa had to miss out on her entire life.

She lived with her mother the first five years. She was taught how to protect herself with a sword, how to think of ways to escape in every situation and how to mask her non verbal aspects.

When Nagisa was five, her mother was murdered. The Noble found her and executed her. I'm talking about a noble family that runs the biggest underground criminal organization in the country. He's even known in other nearby countries.

I'm talking about Donquixote Doflamingo. In the 'underworld' he's known as: The Joker.

How ironic right?

Doflamingo uses his subordinates however he sees beneficial aspects to use. For example, he took Nagisa because of her way of thinking and use of sword. He could definitely use a spy to gather information or to threaten his enemies. With other words: The young child would torture people.

A five year old child. Unbelievable right?

Thing is: He didn't manage to make her do it the first years. She refused to talk and tried to escape many times. After a few years, somehow, he managed to 'brainwash' her. Nagisa couldn't manage to tell me how he did it, though, I can guess what happened. Cora and I share a past with Doflamingo ourselves. So we didn't ask for further details.

She had to do all kinds of gruesome 'jobs' after she gave up. Yes, she gave up trying to escape. That was how far Doflamingo's power reached. He made you want to stop living if he wanted to, literally.

Nagisa even started to forget her precious time with her mom.

Two years ago, Naito, her twin brother, managed to locate her whereabouts. He tried to get her back, but didn't know how to do it.  
I found the boy while I was keeping track of Doflamingo myself. Normally, it was Cora's job, since he wouldn't let me anywhere near the Family again, but he was present at the war at that time, so someone had to do it.

I found the boy and stopped him before he would walk to his death. He literally pleaded with me to help him, the fool..

I didn't know how to do it myself and why I would even care to do it. I was confused myself though. I was a doctor and knew how unbearable it must be for Nagisa. It must have been a stupid pride thing or something. But anyway!

I called Cora, which was still possible, we lost all ways of contacting each other only the past year. He made me do it. He had a weak spot for children. Hell, he joined the war to secure a future for the children in this country.

He told me exactly what to do, since he would be worried to death and he actually swore to himself he would never let me near his brother again, and gave me the exact plan to rescue the girl. I had a feeling Cora had more reasons to make me do it.. Because just think about it. Cora is a really overprotective parent. Why would an overprotective parent let his son go to a mafia boss who calls himself the Joker to rescue one girl while there were so many others that suffered death by his hands?

I learned not to ask for secrets Cora had however. After all, I found out about the reason after he came back from the war. He told me Shanks-ya saved his life. He wanted to repay him. I don't know how, but he found out Nagisa was Shanks-ya's daughter.

I also promised Cora not to get Naito involved. I managed to get Nagisa out of there by causing an uproar in the 'underworld' and distract Doflamingo. The girl luckily took the chance to escape which enabled me to finish my plan and actually get her out of there.

Nop, I'm not going to share the exact details. Maybe another time.

And now, after two years, Nagisa wanted to speak to Cora. This was a surprise for me since she still had a really hard time interacting with other people. Cora was a really trusting guy though, and he really loved children, including cheeky teenagers. He managed to make Nagisa open up to him a little. I think that's why she managed to decide to talk to him.

After our weekly appointment, Nagisa went to our house behind the private small hospital and was met with another tray of cookies and another cup of tea. Yes, Cora loves baking way too much.

She started right away about what she wanted to talk about. '' It's about your brother mister.. '' She said quietly while she entangled her fingers in her lap.

Cora remained calm and gestured her to tell him more.

She gulped. '' I-I didn't want to trouble Law with this because I already owe him a lot.. I didn't want to trouble you either! B-But.. '' She couldn't finish her sentence because she didn't know how to continue.

'' But you didn't know where else to go? I really don't mind Na-chan. You can tell me everything. I'll listen. '' He smiled gently and sipped his tea. He failed to notice part of his shoulder was on fire for some reason by the way.

Nagisa touched her shoulder as a sign and coughed. He stared at her shoulder, then his' for a while and went all: '' EEHH?! '' after realizing what happened.

He put out the fire and regained his previous posture. '' So.. As I said: You can trust me Na-chan. ''

Please don't ask why that happens to him all the time..

Nagisa continued. '' He found out where Naito and I live.. ''

This was a problem, and why? Because Cora managed to give Nagisa and Naito a hideout in one of Edward Newgate-ya's foster houses. Most of his adoptive sons run these things and Nagisa lives in Marco-ya's foster house. He doesn't know about their situation however so that's why she came to Cora.

Cora thought for a moment before responding. '' When did he find out? ''

'' I-I don't know. Yesterday, Naito saw one of his comrades standing outside watching the house. ''

'' Does Marco know about this? '' When Nagisa shook her head in response, he asked another question. '' Did you show any sign you knew he was there? ''

'' No, sir. I tried.. ''

'' You can call me uncle you know. '' He interrupted.

Nagisa gulped and continued. '' I tried to talk Naito out of it, mister.. ''

Cora sighed. '' What is it he wants to do? ''

Nagisa had been nervous the entire time and she couldn't meet Cora's eyes when he asked the last question. '' H-He.. '' She bit her lower lip and couldn't finish her sentence.

Cora stood up and sat down next to the girl. He placed a hand on her shoulder to encourage her. '' It's alright. You can tell me. '' She looked up helplessly at the adult and opened her mouth. '' He wants to move to another country. It's stupid. It won't work.. He can't do this on his own.. I.. We need help mister, I just.. '' Unable to find the right words to describe the situation, she turned back to stare at her lap again, engulfed in her own world.

Cora found it a hard situation. Doflamingo was smart and if even Newgate-ya couldn't hide the children, then who could?

You could say Nagisa was pretty much a sandstorm. Sometimes she didn't show herself at all and no one would be bothered by her presence. The other day she would come to you with a crisis that seemed impossible to solve and showed her fears and insecurities to someone she didn't completely trust yet.

There.

I used the sandstorm for the theme. Happy now Author-ya?

A/N: ''Don't call me Author-ya! I have a name! ''

I don't care.

So Cora didn't really know how to handle this situation. That's partly why he came to me. Rule number in therapy: Never keep a problem a secret. Always make sure you have someone to talk to about your problems. Not that I always do it, but still. It's important.

I was glad Cora came to me, because it gave me an image of how insecure Nagisa still was. This situation could shake her up again while she was actually making progress.

Not to mention I did have a temporary way to secure her safety without having to call the Government for help. They would only arrest her.

Cora tried to get more out of Nagisa regarding the fact Naito wanted to move, because he seemed to have come to that conclusion pretty fast. Cora wanted her to stay, but she didn't want to leave Naito alone. He managed to make her call Naito instead. Of course, he wanted her to come back because they had to move quickly, but Cora took the phone and explained why it wouldn't work and they would figure something out eventually. Naito came over that evening and I gave them a room each. We have a big house after all.

That very evening was the time Cora told me everything. Luckily, the twin was there so I could use the solution I had in mind immediately.

Am I still making sense to you? I hope so, because the plan will be set into motion now.

* * *

'' Nagisa, we're going out. '' I walked into her room and sat on the chair next to her desk.

'' Out? To where? It's already past ten in the evening. '' She sat crosslegged on her bed with my laptop. She borrowed it. Only then she would agree to stay over for the night.

'' This is the time people go out. Time to grow up. C'mon. You have five minutes to get ready. '' I knew if I stayed this would turn into a discussion because there was no way in hell she was casually going out without mentally preparing herself. I wouldn't have done this if she wasn't my friend and my patient only, because this wasn't really 'the right way' to handle a patient who had suffered almost her entire life.

After ten minutes, notice how much she's rebelling, she came down. '' What about Naito? Isn't he coming? It would be better if he came too.. '' She glanced over to the staircase, hoping her twin brother would show up. He didn't and she knew perfectly well why. '' I can't do this just like that without him. Weren't we supposed to be hiding? Don't get angry if I don't say anything at all as soon as we walk out this door! '' Cora opened the front door and gestured for the o so sweet lady to walk out. She gave me one more stubborn look and finally walked out.

Cora and I followed her and she took the passenger's seat in front. '' I'm sitting there. '' I said.

'' You owe me this much. '' She opened the door and took place on the seat.

Do you realize now how much patience it takes to handle her? This much.

Cora drove us to Makino-ya's bar in the village and during the ride Nagisa kept on asking questions as to why Cora came with us, why Naito had to stay home because he was surely going out too, what we were going to do to prevent Doflamingo from catching and so on. She was curious and deserved to get her answers, sure, but I didn't want to scare her just yet.

Nagisa told Cora Naito was planning to move to another country which frightened Nagisa. She wasn't used to him being like that. He knew moving to a place where she didn't know anyone or anything would make her anxious. Naito wasn't being himself, or at least: The way we knew him. Something was up with him.

'' Can you trust me for now when I say everything will be fine, Nagisa? '' I said with my arms crossed as I stared out of the window.

'' No. ''

Of course. Did I expect her to answer 'yes'? At least she trusted me with her worries.

We arrived at the village and I noticed the girl glancing over the small park where her father's grave was resting.

I stepped out of the car and opened the door so Nagisa could get out. She was getting nervous because she really didn't want to step into a bar full with people she didn't know. From the outside in the dark street, the bar gave off a pleasant atmosphere. The lights were on, you could hear people shouting and singing and glasses toasting to everything possible.

The girl held on to my shirt and hid behind me. She shook her head knowing the people inside there were all Shanks-ya's associates. He ran this bar together with Makino-ya at first after all. Everyone present became some sort of family. Nagisa felt as if she was intruding, as if she didn't belong there.

Cora patted her head and smiled soothingly. '' Come on, no need to be afraid. '' I started walking to force her to come since she was still clutching to my shirt and wouldn't let go any time soon either.

Cora opened the wooden door so we could enter and we were met with a warm and loud environment. As soon as I entered the bar Penguin, my friend, approached us with a slightly drunken face. '' Captaaiinn~ You're here! Is this the girl you were planning to take here? Why does she look so scared? ''

Nagisa pinched me as a form of punishment for betraying her like this. I never told her I was indeed planning on taking her here one day for the therapy. '' You're scaring her Penguin. ''

Cora walked over to Ben-ya and Marco-ya and gave Nagisa one more encouraging look with his weird clown face.

His face turned serious however as soon as he started talking to Ben-ya and Marco-ya. He was probably already trying to prepare some arrangements for the twin.

I turned around and rested my hand on her shoulder. '' Come on. Let's take a seat. '' She pouted at me, still angry but followed me nevertheless. As soon as we were seated on two long bar stools Sanji-ya with the curly eyebrows walked over to us with a dish towel on his shoulder. '' Beer? '' He simply asked and already prepared one glass.

'' And one glass of coke for the girl. '' She looked offended because she already drank alcohol, but hey, she was still underage and I wasn't going to let her drink until she was eighteen at least.

Sanji-ya looked startled for a moment and turned around to see the shy girl that went unnoticed, which was a surprise to be honest since the curlybrow was something stupid called 'the ladies man'. He wanted to introduce himself and probably turn into a pervert but stayed quiet, thinking.

'' You were the lady that bought the groceries a while ago. I remember your red hair. '' He said quietly.

Since the girl probably wasn't going to answer yet to any questions, I replied. '' Hhm? She probably did. She visits this village often. ''

Sanji-ya still looked a bit confused at her but turned his expression into a smile almost right away. '' Well, everyone is welcome here! Especially ladies! I'll add some lemon to your coke miss..? ''

'' .. Nagisa. '' I suggested.

'' Miss Nagisa. It tastes really good. '' He bowed slightly and prepared our drinks.

As if on queue Luffy-ya ran towards me and screamed: '' TRAFFY! '' I must have looked annoyed because he got even happier somehow. '' I heard Chopper works at your hospital! Can I visit?! I'll come tomorrow! '' He decided. He stood next to me and glanced over to Nagisa. Curiously, his expression turned into a thinking one, which was rare for him.

'' I know you.. Where did I see you again? '' Nagisa didn't reveal anything and tucked at my shirt. She was still holding on to it? She probably didn't like this event at all. But did Luffy-ya really know her? From where?

'' I'm sure I've seen you before.. '' He held his hands on his temples as if that would increase his ability to think.

'' You're giving yourself a fever Luffy-ya. Stop it. ''

Sabo-ya, Luffy-ya's brother, rested his arm around his shoulders and chuckled. '' I know I've seen the girl before. You visited the graveyard last time before you came here to get your groceries. '' The blond looked at Nagisa as if he could see right through her.

This came unexpected for the girl so she was fairly surprised. She glared back at the man without showing any emotions as if they were holding a silent battle as to who knew the most about the other.

'' Graveyard? Did she visit someone's grave? '' Luffy-ya asked.

'' No, she went sightseeing. '' Sanji-ya answered sarcastically.

'' Really?! People do that? '' Luffy-ya never understood sarcasm.

'' Of course not you little shithead! I meant it sarcastically! '' He took a sigarette out of its package from his pocket and put it between his lips.

'' Then don't say it. '' The black haired boy answered again. He turned once again to Nagisa and bowed. '' My deepest condolences. ''

'' I taught him that word. '' Sabo-ya said proudly as if it were important news Luffy-ya learned a new word. Well, it was a big thing, that was for sure.

It was the first time someone other than me and Cora showed our respect towards the girl on this matter. Naito didn't care at all, but Nagisa didn't know how to react. She never knew her father, so was she supposed to be sad about it or not? It was one of the many things on the list that she held her mind busy with.

'' She visited her late father. '' An old voice said from behind me. I turned me head sideways and recognized Ben Beckman and Yasopp-ya, Shanks-ya's best friends.

Ben-ya had a stern look in his eyes and Yasopp-ya sympathetic. How did they know about Nagisa?

I patiently waited to see how this was going to play out, because secretly I did want everyone to find out who this girl was. She thought they would hate her, but I really wanted to show her what was actually going to happen.

Sabo-ya's grin turned into a sad one and he gestured Luffy to get up. I couldn't read Luffy-ya's expression..

Sanji-ya looked rather serious too and Nagisa.. yeah.. Even though she didn't show anything, I knew she was starting to panic on the inside.

'' I'd like to speak to you. '' Ben-ya continued. '' Could you come with me, Nagisa? '' She looked at me helplessly and confused. I stood up because she wouldn't go on her own, I was sure of that. Slowly she followed me, avoiding the others' eyes towards the back of the bar where Cora and Marco-ya were waiting for us. I really hoped Cora was able to arrange a proper plan for the twin. I wasn't planning on letting Doflamingo have her back.

We took a seat on the couch and Ben-ya and Yasopp-ya joined us.

'' Nagisa, you could have told me yoi. Pops and I could have helped you. '' Marco-ya started sympathetically. Instead the redhead looked at Cora not knowing what to answer.

'' I told him what happened to you. It's time both of you get to lead a free life Na-chan. '' Cora said with a smile.

* * *

**I've seen enough –ya's for the upcoming month. **

**See ya! **

**Next theme: 13. Lava **


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